Maple Leaf City, Allure Trading House.
"Master Wuming, how do you find the advanced alchemy laboratory here at Allure Trading House?"
When it came to this Master Wuming, Youlan was exceptionally careful — far more respectful than she ever was toward
Despite his advanced age — well past seventy — everyone in the entire
Before Youlan was even born, this old man had already been immersed in virtual games for years, wholeheartedly devoted to the art of alchemy.
In the alchemy world of virtual gaming, virtually no one had not heard the name Wuming.
At this point, the old man Wuming had already reached the rank of Junior Alchemist, and the potion he was currently crafting — had
Because the potion in the glass bottle was none other than a Fire Resistance Potion. But not an ordinary one — it was a modified, variant Fire Resistance Potion that had become extremely famous in the Divine Realm of Shi Feng's previous life, known as the Dragon Fire Potion. Not only did it provide higher fire resistance than the basic Fire Resistance Potion, but its duration was longer as well. Most importantly, it could boost the Strength stat — and not by a trivial amount, either. A full 10 points, and the effect could stack with fire resistance. At maximum, one could gain 50 points of Strength and 100 points of fire resistance, which was precisely why it was called the Dragon Fire Potion.
Fifty points of Strength was a significant boost for any ordinary player, to say nothing of equipping a top-tier main tank with it.
"Not bad. I didn't expect a little girl like you to get your hands on this fine bottle. My newly developed potion is finally complete." Wuming gazed at the red liquid in the purple glass bottle, deeply satisfied. "Just as I hypothesized — not only does the fire resistance stack, but the Strength stat stacks too. For a basic-level potion to achieve this much… Let's call this one the Dragon Fire Potion. Consider it a little gift for you, girl."
"You're truly impressive, Master Wuming — to create such a powerful potion. What's the success rate for crafting the Dragon Fire Potion?" Youlan glanced at the potion's effects and her face lit up with delight.
To persuade Master Wuming to come to Maple Leaf City and set up shop, she had gone through considerable trouble to acquire an entire set of Iron Rank alchemy equipment.
But compared to the Dragon Fire Potion he had produced, even that set of Iron Rank alchemy equipment was nothing.
"Relax. With me at the helm, the success rate is naturally over fifty percent. For other alchemists, it might not exceed thirty percent, but my ingredients are all common materials — wasting a few won't hurt," Master Wuming said with a chuckle.
He had spent a great deal of time developing the Dragon Fire Potion; otherwise, he would have already advanced to Intermediate Alchemist by now.
"Thank you for your help, Master Wuming. Now that we have the Dragon Fire Potion, all we need to do is train up a large number of alchemists, and Candlelight Trading will no longer be a problem," Youlan said confidently.
As the creator, Master Wuming could freely distribute the recipe to others for use. Training alchemists to craft the Dragon Fire Potion would be incredibly easy.
Moreover, the Dragon Fire Potion would be sold exclusively by Allure Trading House — far more valuable than any rare design blueprints or recipes. Even if others wanted to produce it, they couldn't. Who could possibly compete with Allure Trading House then?
"I've made the product. Girl, if you want me to stay here, don't forget the Mythril Rank equipment you promised me," Master Wuming reminded her.
For Wuming, nothing was more precious than advancing the Way of
"Rest assured, Master. I already have some leads. I believe the Mythril Rank alchemy equipment will be in our hands soon," Youlan assured him. "But in the meantime, I'd like you to produce more batches of the Dragon Fire Potion formula so I can earn the money to purchase it faster."
"That's simple enough," Master Wuming said with a smile.
As time ticked by, the guild competition across the Divine Realm's major cities had shifted away from
Everyone had witnessed just how lucrative Candlelight Trading's business was.
In a mere two days, numerous guilds had opened their own shops. Even the Snake of the Body in the Star Moon Kingdom's capital had established a trading house. Although the shop was not located in the prime district, Bai Qingxue had no other choice — she had seen Candlelight Trading's Star Moon Kingdom branch raking in money hand over fist, generating a small fortune every single day.
If the Snake of the Body waited until it accumulated enough reputation for a prime location, the trade in the Star Moon Kingdom capital would likely already be dominated by Candlelight Trading. It was better to bite the bullet and open a shop in the outer district first, so they could at least earn some gold coins.
Allure was even more aggressive. Not only did they have a shop in Maple Leaf City, but they had also opened another Allure shop in
"Young Master Feng, everything is set. We just need to wait until this afternoon, and we'll have a sufficient stockpile of Dragon Fire Potion. At that point, our people will advertise the Dragon Fire Potion across the entire White River City region. Even though Allure isn't in the prime district, everyone will hear about it and flock to us. We can absolutely hold our own against Candlelight Trading. Besides, Candlelight Trading only has three people who can craft Basic Reinforced Armor Plates — they won't be able to compete with us."
"Well done! Youlan, you've really outdone yourself this time — managing to produce something as excellent as the Dragon Fire Potion. With just this potion alone, Allure Trading House will be able to lure the vast majority of players away from Candlelight Trading. Add in our aggressive pricing, and let's see how Candlelight Trading plans to compete with us!" Feng Xuanyang said smugly.
The Underworld lacked many things, but money and manpower were not among them. They could easily obtain massive quantities of raw materials, and with Master Wuming providing an unlimited supply of Dragon Fire Potion, every alchemist they trained meant one more person capable of crafting the potions. To date, Allure Trading House already had six alchemists, and that number would only grow with time. Candlelight Trading, on the other hand, could not increase the number of blacksmiths who could craft Basic Reinforced Armor Plates. When demand outstripped supply, customers would naturally flee to Allure Trading House.
After all, the level-25 Dungeons required fire resistance for a good number of encounters. The Dragon Fire Potion was far more popular among current players than Basic Reinforced Armor Plates. Plus, each player's budget was limited, and the Dragon Fire Potion was cheaper than Basic Reinforced Armor Plates. In terms of return on investment, the Dragon Fire Potion was the obvious priority.
While Feng Xuanyang was fantasizing about Allure Trading House monopolizing White River City's trade, Shi Feng's side was equally hectic and bustling with activity.
To extract maximum value from the Golden Book, he had already promoted all trustworthy Advanced Blacksmith Apprentices to Junior Blacksmiths, who worked day and night crafting Light Stones without rest. Shi Feng himself, meanwhile, was focused on crafting Intermediate Mana Armor Plates.
Previously, Shi Feng had not been a Blacksmith and therefore could not unlock the Intermediate Mana Armor Plate recipe. But now that he held the Blacksmith title, he could craft them — so he too worked without sleep or rest to produce Intermediate Mana Plates.
During this period, Shi Feng had also quietly expanded Candlelight Trading's presence into several major cities with Bai Qingxue's help, particularly in the eastern region of the Star Moon Kingdom. However, Shi Feng's funds were limited, so all of these new shops were ordinary establishments in the outer districts of their respective cities.
To establish these shops, Shi Feng had spent every last coin he had earned over this period in one go. He had even emptied out the gold the guild had earned through player missions, pouring it all into the expansion.
"Guild Leader, the target quantity has been reached. We can start putting them up for sale now,"