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Hearing Shi Feng’s question, Youyu Weixiao’s expression darkened slightly, a hint of shame on his face.
“To date, we’ve only gathered a little over half. We still need twenty more pieces of Verdant Wood and twelve Soul-Nourishing Stones.” Youyu Weixiao thought for a moment, then reported honestly.
Shi Feng had long given orders to collect these materials, even if it cost a bit.
Yet after all this time, apart from materials obtained by the Zero Wing Guild from large-scale team dungeons, only a small portion had been gathered from other sources.
“Alright. The remaining materials will likely be hard to find. I’ll figure out a way to collect them. Focus your efforts on crafting the Stabilized Magic Equipment,” Shi Feng nodded.
He was well aware that materials for the Beast Pen were notoriously difficult to obtain.
Even in a hundred-person hard-mode dungeon, the drop rate was abysmally low. Only on Hell Difficulty did it improve somewhat. If not for the First Clear last time, it would have been impossible to get so many materials. Gathering over half now was actually quite good.
Moreover, the situation in the Divine Realm had changed.
The level-40 era was drawing near for all major guilds.
Every major guild would inevitably investigate matters related to Beast Pens. A thorough search would naturally reveal some of the construction materials, including Verdant Wood and Soul-Nourishing Stones. However, most of the materials weren’t something one could simply look up. Without seeing the Beast Pen’s blueprints, it was impossible to know.
Large-scale team dungeons dropped an immense variety of rare materials, usable in all sorts of applications. Even if the materials needed for a Beast Pen dropped, the major guilds would assume they were for something else.
Verdant Wood and Soul-Nourishing Stones, however, could be researched at the Library. Buying them from other major guilds was now impossible, so it was understandable that they hadn’t been collected.
But Shi Feng was also glad.
If not for the opportunity to participate in the Dark Arena competition this time, he would have truly had a headache over the Beast Pen materials.
On the surface, the Dark Arena was a stage for the world’s major financial powers to compete in the shadows. In reality, it was an exchange where these conglomerates traded rare materials and items. Materials and weapons that couldn’t be found on the open market could all be seen there.
Of course, to obtain these things, one had to win them through team battle wagers.
Because in the Dark Arena, the most valuable currency wasn’t Credit Points, but the Divine Realm’s rare materials and top-tier equipment. Under normal circumstances, the various Divine Realm powers would never sell these items; at most, they might agree to a trade, but the cost would be exorbitantly high. In the Dark Arena, however, to get the materials they wanted, the powers had to stake materials of equivalent value. Once both sides agreed on the equivalence, a match was held.
The winner took everything; the loser lost it all.
However, a small portion of the wagers would be distributed to the victorious team. If the team declined, the winning party could purchase them with Credit Points.
This was precisely why so many Divine Realm powers in his previous life had wanted to join the Dark Arena.
It wasn’t just about building a reputation; it was also about amassing endless wealth and Divine Realm resources.
But such a good thing wasn’t accessible to just anyone. The Dark Arena had its own circle. Ordinary major guilds in the Divine Realm wouldn’t be invited to play. Just like Shi Feng in his previous life—he might have been the president of a second-rate guild and a local overlord, but he still needed a first-rate guild’s executive to bring him into the Dark Arena; otherwise, he had no qualification to enter.
Shi Feng had been there over a dozen times, but he had to admit, the scene was truly not something a second-rate guild could afford to participate in.
Forget legendary materials—even legendary items or player-built major cities occasionally appeared as wagers.
Although the Dark Arena only featured ten-versus-ten team battles, the outcome of one match was no less impactful than a war involving tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people.
Verdant Wood and Soul-Nourishing Stones were precious, yes, but within the Dark Arena, they were merely ordinary wagers.
Collecting them all wouldn’t be difficult.
After Shi Feng placed all the rare materials and level-50 weapons and equipment from his backpack into the Trading House’s warehouse, he took Huo Wu and headed directly to the Forging Room.
Inside Selluola’s Forging Room, Shi Feng handed all ten pieces of Magic Fire Gold over to Selluola. Immediately, a system notification sounded in his ear.
System: Congratulations, player, on completing the quest “Recast Thousand Transformations.” Reward: 200 million EXP, and +5 Resilience.