Inside the run-down inn, apart from a man dressed in black robes wearing a dark hood sitting not far from the window, and two shadow guards standing at his sides, there wasn't a single player in sight.
Moreover, the inn only had two NPCs — a bartender and a waiter.
For an inn, this was rather pathetic.
From the moment Shi Feng entered the inn until he walked up to the robed man, the two shadow guards kept their eyes locked on him like hawks, as though the slightest move from him would provoke an immediate response.
They gave off the impression of being highly trained bodyguards.
"This is my own inn, so why the excessive tension?" Shi Feng found the two shadow guards' attitude quite puzzling, and he was even more curious about this person named Xue Ya.
In his previous life, the outside world had never seen Xue Ya's true face. He was an entirely enigmatic figure — even more secretive than the legendary Seven Deadly Sins.
Many people had tried to investigate, but no matter how thoroughly the major guilds dug, they turned up nothing.
No one even knew whether Xue Ya was male or female, because in the Divine Realm there were many items that could disguise a player's appearance. Xue Ya always wore a dark hood, and even high-level observation skills couldn't pierce through it. The only thing people knew was that everyone in the Dark Crow guild called their leader Xue Ya.
"Would you like something to drink?" After Shi Feng sat down, Xue Ya spoke up. "The drinks at this inn are quite good."
Xue Ya's voice wasn't like the shadow guards' — devoid of all emotion and icy cold. It was simply somewhat deep and low.
"No need. If you have something to say, just say it straight. You invited me here, so I doubt it was to have a drink," Shi Feng shook his head.
"As Shi Xue said, you're a person who doesn't beat around the bush. Since you've put it that way, I'll get straight to the point. What do you think of this town?" Xue Ya smiled and gestured toward the small town outside the window.
"I can only say it's rather shabby. As for anything else, I wouldn't know. However, if your guild wants to capture this town, I imagine there must be something here that greatly interests your organization." Shi Feng spoke candidly.
The Dawn Empire was located extremely far from the Star Moon Kingdom. Just teleporting from the Star Moon capital to the Dawn Empire cost four gold and twenty-four silver — that alone told you how distant it was. Even current top-tier players would find that expense hard to swallow.
In his previous life, he had always developed within the Star Moon Kingdom and didn't know much about far-off kingdoms and empires, only their general locations.
That said, he was aware of certain major events.
Even though he never visited those places, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's Expert Rankings frequently recorded significant incidents from across the various kingdoms and empires of the Divine Realm.
However, in his memories, during this stage of the Divine Realm, nothing major had happened in the Dawn Empire.
"Sharp as expected. Just as you said, this town is very shabby. But to capture it, our Dark Crow paid an enormous price — nearly everything we'd accumulated since entering the Divine Realm. It took everything we had just to take this town." As Xue Ya spoke, he let out a sigh. "I'm ashamed to admit it, but even though Dark Crow had quite the reserve, establishing this town was far too costly."
Hearing this, Shi Feng looked genuinely surprised.
He understood quite well what it took to establish a town — the initial investment was indeed substantial. But for a force like Dark Crow, it shouldn't be that big of a problem.
"I know that's hard to believe, but I'm not lying. This town is special. As you can see, it's very shabby, but the truth is, before this, it was quite prosperous. What you see now is actually the result of us rebuilding it for the second time." There was a good deal of helplessness mixed into Xue Ya's words as he spoke.
"Rebuilt? You mean this town was already destroyed once before?" Shi Feng was even more shocked after hearing this.
As everyone knew, any newly established town could hire NPC guards for protection. The protection period lasted fifteen days, and level-150 NPC guards were essentially invincible to current players. Even with level-forty-something monsters roaming nearby as a nuisance, Dark Crow's own forces alone could handle them easily. Destroying the town should have been virtually impossible.
"That's right. This town was already destroyed once. Even though I hired a large number of guards, the end result was still a failure to hold it. We invested so much into this town early on that Dark Crow now lacks the resources to rebuild again. That's why I've sought out the Zero Wing guild — I want to propose cooperation and have Zero Wing invest in this town so we can develop it together." Xue Ya nodded gravely, his tone notably confident. "No other guild knows the true value of this town yet. I only discovered it through researching ancient texts. If Zero Wing invests one hundred thousand gold coins, I can offer you a twenty percent share of this town's profits."
"Chairman Xue Ya, we're talking about one hundred thousand gold coins, not one hundred thousand copper coins. One hundred thousand gold coins would be enough to rebuild this town six or seven times over, or even establish six or seven entirely new towns. And in return, all you're offering is twenty percent of this town's profits? Even if there were gold ore here, it couldn't possibly be worth that much." Shi Feng shook his head.
The mention of ancient texts gave Shi Feng some indication that this town truly was unusual.
But one hundred thousand gold was enough to preliminarily build an entire city.
Even if this were a gold mine, mining it would require enormous manpower and resources, to say nothing of smelting the gold ore into ingots and selling it. Even if the daily output was highly profitable, he'd only get twenty percent. Who knew how long it would take just to recoup his investment? He wasn't about to waste his current gold reserves on this.
"Elder Ye Feng, don't rush to refuse just yet. I haven't told you what makes this town special." Xue Ya was not at all surprised by Shi Feng's outright rejection.
"Special? What's so special about it?" Shi Feng asked.
"There's an Origin Iron ore vein here, and in addition, some magic crystals can be extracted as well. Not a lot, mind you, but I'd say it's still considerably more than what Stone Forest Town produces daily. Moreover, Origin Iron ore is inherently a rare mineral — one of the key materials for crafting weapons and equipment above level fifty. This should be excellent news for the Candlelight Trading Company." Xue Ya smiled as he spoke. "Well? Does that make it worth reconsidering?"
"So that's why. No wonder you're so confident, Chairman Xue Ya. But I'm curious — why seek out our Zero Wing guild? Wouldn't it be better to partner with one of those super guilds? With their financial power and manpower, they could develop this town far more effectively." Even Shi Feng had to admit he was tempted.
An Origin Iron ore vein was one of the ultra-rare ore deposits. Beyond producing Origin Iron ore, the dense magical energy within such veins also generated magic crystals. Though they were merely a byproduct of mining — comparable to grinding mobs in the Claw Mountain Range for magic crystals — there was one significant advantage: absolutely no danger. Any player with sufficient mining skill could dig freely. To be continued.