"The Blackwater Consortium truly has quite the cunning moves!" Bai Qingxue listened to the explanations of several elders, then glanced at the cold-faced, short-haired young man sitting across from her.
In the virtual gaming world, nearly every major guild of any standing operated on a joint-stock system. It was extremely rare for any single person to hold all the power.
As for guilds that developed to the level of Zero Wing — those were utterly unique.
Let alone first-rate guilds.
Although first-rate guilds were essentially enterprises in their own right and could earn substantial money, when entering a super-large-scale virtual game, they would always invest heavily for the guild's early-stage development within the game.
But Divine Realm was a particularly special virtual game. Even with a first-rate guild's financial resources, once they entered Divine Realm, the parent company would need to inject additional capital so the guild could expand its coverage — spanning an entire kingdom or even several — unlike second-rate guilds whose funds were quite limited, covering only a dozen or so cities at most.
It was precisely because of this that most of Snake of the Body's shares were held by those enterprises.
As long as a few enterprises banded together to make a decision, even she, the guild leader, couldn't change anything and could only accept the outcome.
However, what Bai Qingxue hadn't expected was for the Blackwater Consortium to be so despicable as to resort to such tactics to force Snake of the Body into submission. Generally, world-class consortiums wouldn't stoop to such methods — doing so would only invite ridicule from other consortiums.
"Guild Leader Bai, have you thought it over?" The cold-faced, short-haired young man was entirely unbothered by Bai Qingxue's sarcasm. Instead, he sneered, "I know this is a difficult decision, let alone one thrust upon you so suddenly. How about this — I'll give you three days to think it over carefully. If after three days Guild Leader Bai still chooses to refuse, then the position of Snake of the Body's leader will have to be taken by someone else."
After finishing his remarks, the cold-faced, short-haired young man stood up with a smile and left the conference room, the two level-39 expert players flanking him following close behind.
"Brother Yitao, why don't we just make Bai Qingxue leave? That way you could take over Snake of the Body much sooner, couldn't you?"
"If we give her three days now, what if she manages to sway those fence-sitters, or buys enough shares from them at a premium? Taking control of Snake of the Body would become far more difficult."
The two burly men beside him asked the cold-faced, short-haired young man with evident curiosity.
Blackwater Consortium's initial goal was to completely control the entire Star Moon Kingdom, cultivate it into their own private garden, and use the Star Moon Kingdom as a stepping stone to gradually seize control of the Black Dragon Empire.
They had no intention of letting Snake of the Body survive simply because Bai Qingxue agreed to their terms, or of letting her continue commanding everything. The guild would instead be absorbed into a new guild formed by Blackwater, becoming entirely Blackwater's property. So there was really no need to care whether Bai Qingxue agreed or not.
"You think I'm giving Bai Qingxue three days?" Qi Yitao curled his lip dismissively. "I'm simply giving everyone in Snake of the Body some time to adjust. If Bai Qingxue were suddenly stripped of her leader position, it would inevitably cause considerable unrest — not only would the guild's morale plummet, but reorganizing everything afterward would be a nightmare. Now, by giving her three days, everyone in Snake of the Body will have heard the news, and when we take over afterward, their resistance will be much reduced."
"And most importantly, Young Master Jing still hasn't sent me enough personnel to take over Snake of the Body. In three days, the replacement personnel should arrive. Once they do, the Star Moon Kingdom capital will belong to Blackwater, and it won't be long before the entire Star Moon Kingdom becomes ours."
"Brother Yitao, then what about Zero Wing — the number-one guild in the Star Moon Kingdom? Aren't we going to negotiate with them? I've heard Zero Wing is extremely stubborn, and their guild leader holds absolute power. Taking them down would probably be much harder than Snake of the Body."
"Young Master Jing has his own arrangements for Zero Wing — we don't need to worry about it," Qi Yitao said carelessly. "Rather, how are the people Young Master Jing sent over getting acclimated?"
"Relax, Brother Yitao. With our experts keeping watch over them, they're making progress every single day. Combined with the combat footage we've gathered and the Trial Tower, I think they'll quickly adapt to Divine Realm's fighting style. Once their levels catch up, they'll definitely become the guild's greatest hidden card," the burly man beside him said excitedly.
The Blackwater Consortium was quite different from those energy-focused consortiums — it was actually one of the consortiums best suited to Divine Realm.
After all, Blackwater had originally been a world-renowned consortium specializing in combat sports. Their Blackwater Dojos and fitness centers spanned the entire globe, and they were one of the organizers of every world fighting tournament.
Compared to Divine Realm's combat, which to them felt like children's games, it would be incredibly simple for Blackwater to dominate the game.
If it hadn't been for the appearance of the mental space system, Blackwater wouldn't have bothered truly entering Divine Realm at all. They would have treated it as nothing more than a relaxing diversion after fighting tournaments.
After Qi Yitao and the others left, the entirety of Snake of the Body descended into turmoil, no longer able to concern itself with the newly released zone dungeon — the Undead Grand Canyon.
…
Meanwhile, Shi Feng had already arrived at the Magic District of Black Wing City.
Black Wing City was unlike ordinary NPC cities that divided their areas into noble and slum districts. Any NPC or player who made it to Black Wing City was no ordinary person, and even nobles from various kingdoms and empires who came here were considered commoners within Black Wing City.
In the Magic District, NPC-run magic shops lined every street — there were at least a hundred in the area. They sold all manner of magic items for daily life, as well as magic scrolls. Some of the rarer magic scrolls simply couldn't be bought in ordinary NPC cities. Among Black Wing City's exclusive products were the Exorcism Scrolls.
When players first discovered Exorcism Scrolls, many considered them rather useless — after all, they could only drive away monsters of low intelligence. As players leveled up and ventured into higher-level maps, encounters with low-intelligence monsters grew increasingly rare, making Exorcism Scrolls unnecessary. To say nothing of their hefty price tag.
It wasn't until players began using Exorcism Scrolls to protect their towns that the scrolls truly started gaining popularity.
As a rare magic scroll exclusive to Black Wing City, Exorcism Scrolls weren't available in unlimited quantities. Each day had a fixed quota, and only one magic shop in the entire city sold them — and finding it was no easy task.
Only twenty scrolls sold per day!
Twenty Exorcism Scrolls were more than enough to protect a small town. However, there were simply too many guilds in Divine Realm, and quite a few had established towns of their own. Some of those towns would inevitably come under monster attacks for special reasons. When the defenders couldn't handle the situation, an Exorcism Scroll could provide timely relief — potentially saving the town. After that, they only needed to deploy stronger forces to guard it.
Just as Shi Feng walked into the magic shop that sold Exorcism Scrolls, several players were already inside, waiting quietly. The moment Shi Feng entered, they all turned to look at him in unison.
"Why are people from the Holy Temple of Law here?" Shi Feng thought to himself with surprise upon seeing the players inside.