"President Bai, feel free to say whatever's on your mind," Shi Feng said with a smile.
Bai Qingxue had brought a massive force of elites and top players from Snake of the Body. If they all joined Zero Wing, it would be an enormous boost to the guild's overall strength.
Zero Wing's total membership might still lag behind a first-rate guild, but its roster of elite players would definitely surpass any ordinary first-rate guild.
And that was without even mentioning Bai Qingxue's own potential.
If he could get her into the simulation training system, combined with the various combat skill resources he had on hand, someone of her talent wouldn't take long to become a true top-tier expert—she might even surpass him before long.
What guild wouldn't kill for a player like that?
Moreover, Bai Qingxue was nothing like Huo Wu or Ziyan Liuyun when it came to guild management—those two were complete blank slates. Speaking of management ability, probably only Shuisi Qiangwei in the entire guild could compare. Shuisi Qiangwei had only managed her own team back in Dusk Echo, whereas Bai Qingxue had been running all of Snake of the Body and had even driven it to flourish, with hints that it might overtake the Star River Alliance.
Forget one condition—three or four conditions would be perfectly fine.
Because only Shi Feng knew how invaluable a player capable of reaching Tier 6 God-tier was to a guild.
"Snake of the Body has been developing for years, and our system for cultivating expert players is already well-established. That's precisely why Snake of the Body holds a first-rate guild position—because we can continuously produce expert players without having to recruit from outside or poach talent from other guilds."
"This complete training system cost the Bai Corporation an enormous amount of effort. While I can take the God-Slaying Army's members with me, I can't take this training system. Several other companies hold shares in it. Our Bai Corporation only has a 40% stake in the training center—the remaining 60% is controlled by several major enterprises."
"I'd like your Zero Wing Guild to purchase the training center."
Bai Qingxue's condition caught Shi Feng off guard.
Any guild that wanted to survive in the Divine Realm needed to establish its own training center—this was exactly why second-rate guilds couldn't compare to first-rate ones.
But building a guild's own expert training center required enormous amounts of money and resources. In the early stages, it was pure loss with no return, so the corporations backing second-rate guilds simply couldn't support it. Even if they managed to build one and the training system was complete, the mere cost of maintaining it would be more than those corporations could bear.
Unless the guild's in-game performance generated enough revenue to sustain the training system, no guild or major corporation would be crazy enough to build something that only hemorrhaged money.
Otherwise, the Bai Corporation's assets alone wouldn't be so insufficient that they had to pool resources with several other major enterprises behind Snake of the Body just to keep it running.
Shi Feng had also been planning how to establish such a training center. The training at the Beidou Fitness Center was completely makeshift—they didn't even have a basic simulation training system. But this kind of thing was far too expensive, so he could only take it step by step.
He never expected Bai Qingxue to offer him the chance to simply buy Snake of the Body's training center.
Saying he wasn't excited would be a lie.
With Snake of the Body's training center, Zero Wing would save years of slow accumulation. But there was one huge problem.
Not enough money…
Shi Feng had been the president of a second-rate guild before. He had personally participated in the Shadow Guild's entire process of establishing a training center. That was shortly after Shadow had been recognized as a proper second-rate guild, and the cost had been astronomical. If not for several major corporations in the city joining forces, it never would have been built.
The venue and mechanical equipment costs were secondary. What truly mattered were the various virtual devices and the energy they required. The simulation training system developed by the Celestial Pavilion, for instance, needed top-tier energy just to run. Even a lower-grade simulation system's daily energy maintenance alone was enough to bankrupt many major corporations.
With Zero Wing's current finances, they probably couldn't even cover the maintenance costs, let alone buy the whole thing.
"President Bai, you're too kind. I don't mean to brag, but Zero Wing can't even afford to support a training center right now, much less buy an already-established one in one fell swoop. And even if we wanted to buy it, I doubt those major enterprises would sell—after all, it's the backbone of Snake of the Body. As long as they have the training center, they can continuously produce experts," Shi Feng said with a bitter smile.
Zero Wing had started from scratch with no corporate investment whatsoever. It relied entirely on the guild's daily profits to sustain the Zero Wing studio in the real world. Moreover, Shi Feng didn't dare casually convert Divine Realm resources into Credit Points. More and more major corporations and conglomerates were entering the Divine Realm, and competition was getting fiercer by the day. In-game resources were constantly appreciating in value.
Converting Divine Realm resources into Credit Points now would be the most foolish thing he could do.
"I know this is asking a lot, but right now is the best opportunity," Bai Qingxue said. She was well aware of how staggering the cost of purchasing the training center would be—probably only the largest conglomerates could absorb it in one go; any others wouldn't stand a chance. "The Black Water Conglomerate has taken over Snake of the Body, and they probably have no interest in this training center. The daily operating costs are a heavy burden for the other enterprises, and they'll be eager to offload it. If we don't move quickly, some other conglomerate looking to train their own guild's experts will snap it up, saving themselves the time and effort of building from scratch."
"If Zero Wing is willing to buy, I can act as a middleman and negotiate the price down as much as possible."
"I understand. Please wait a moment—I need to contact the guild leader first." Shi Feng made an excuse and left the room.
Buying an existing training center would be far less trouble than building one from scratch, especially with Bai Qingxue as an inside contact.
Purchasing it now would save them a great deal of future headaches and allow Zero Wing to rapidly cultivate more experts to capture towns and defend cities. Through those towns, they could earn massive amounts of resources and money, forming a virtuous cycle. It would be nothing like the Shadow Guild of his previous life, which had stagnated for a long time due to a lack of experts before finally being forced to establish its own training center.
But gathering that kind of sum was simply impossible for Zero Wing right now.
"Whatever—I'll at least give it a try," Shi Feng muttered after leaving the room. He had no choice but to contact Shuisi Qiangwei first.
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