The private dining room was spacious, but it couldn't contain all the weapons and equipment Shi Feng laid out—they covered every inch of the floor. It took Shuise Qiangwei quite a while to finish counting before she finally knew just how much Shi Feng had produced.
Among them, there were over two hundred Bronze weapons above level eight, over three hundred pieces of Bronze Equipment above level eight, seventy Iron Rank weapons above level nine, eighty pieces of Iron Rank equipment above level nine, and twenty Silver Dawn swords at level ten.
Nearly seven hundred pieces of weapons and equipment in total—enough to fully arm a hundred-man raid party with ease.
The weapons in particular, the Silver Dawn, had absolutely staggering stats—far superior even to the Giant Bear Battle Axe wielded by Glorious War God.
It was worth noting that Glorious War God had lost a great many Elites to obtain that level-nine Giant Bear Battle Axe. After all, the target had been a Leader-tier field boss, and losing over twenty Elites in the process was perfectly normal.
Leader-tier field bosses were exceedingly rare in the Divine Realm. Even encountering one was a matter of luck, and subduing one required significant casualties. It was essentially trading the lives of guild Elites for equipment—a tremendous cost for any guild.
Yet here was Shi Feng, casually producing twenty Mythril Rank weapons.
Shuise Qiangwei simply didn't know how to describe him. His strength was absurdly high, and on top of that, his blacksmithing was at the absolute pinnacle—she had never heard of any player capable of forging Mythril Rank weapons and equipment. It was enough to make anyone else give up entirely.
At the same time, Shuise Qiangwei truly came to understand how terrifying a blacksmith could be.
If any guild had a blacksmith like Shi Feng, they would never need to worry about equipment. As long as you had the blueprints, gear could be produced in minutes—no need to painstakingly hunt down bosses. And even the most formidable boss only dropped a handful of items, whereas a blacksmith could craft as many as he had materials for. It was incomparably more convenient and efficient.
"Miss Shuise, you look a bit pale. Are you alright?" Shi Feng asked with concern, noticing the slightly dazed expression on her face.
"Me?" Shuise Qiangwei snapped back to reality and hurriedly wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. "I'm fine, of course I'm fine."
"Maybe you can't take on all this equipment at once? If that's the case, just buy however much you can handle," Shi Feng said, not without some sympathy. After all, trying to absorb this much gear in one go would overwhelm even a top-tier guild, let alone a single individual like Shuise Qiangwei.
"Master Hei Yan, I want all of it," she said. "But could we settle mainly in Credit Points? If I hand over all my gold coins to you, Master Hei Yan, I won't have a penny left to my name." She gave a bitter smile.
With so many treasures in front of her, failing to take them all would be a sin.
What did major guilds lack most? High-tier weapons and equipment, naturally—and this gear, all above level eight, was precisely what they needed most right now.
A single level-eight Bronze Equipment piece was worth over twenty silver coins on the market. A level-eight Bronze weapon fetched over thirty silver. Level-nine Iron Rank equipment went for fifty silver, and level-nine Iron Rank weapons commanded eighty silver or more. And that was before even mentioning the level-ten Mythril Rank Silver Dawn—a true priceless treasure that no one in their right mind would sell.
If one had to estimate, each Silver Dawn's stats easily put it above two gold coins. Twenty of them meant forty gold—nearly half of Shuise Qiangwei's entire gold reserve, and that was the floor price.
"That works," Shi Feng said after a moment's thought. "Let's use these forging materials plus fifty gold to cover part of the cost, and settle the rest entirely in Credit Points."
"This…" Shuise Qiangwei hesitated for a long while before finally gritting her teeth and agreeing. "Fine, I understand."
Hearing this, Shuise Qiangwei desperately wished she could poach Shi Feng. She had worked so hard to earn those gold coins, and he had effortlessly taken the better half of them. The injustice stung.
But then it struck her—she really had nothing in her arsenal that could entice him. As a blacksmith, he had no shortage of weapons and equipment. His money-making ability went without saying. His current status might be modest, but once the name of Blacksmith Hei Yan spread, his reputation would soar to dizzying heights, commanding universal respect.
The only question was whether he had a girlfriend. Her Elite squad certainly had plenty of stunning beauties—each one dazzling and shapely, the kind of women countless men clamored to pursue. If she could get one of them to catch Shi Feng's eye, she'd be set.
But asking him about it now would be foolish. She'd have to wait until their relationship deepened, then probe the subject subtly.
Had Shi Feng known what was going through Shuise Qiangwei's mind at that moment, he probably would have run for the hills. The elegant, cheerful woman on the outside harbored quite the bold and calculating nature within.
The two swiftly completed the transaction.
From the sale, Shi Feng received forty-three gold worth of forging materials, fifty gold coins, and over two million Credit Points.
In just three days of work, spending only a dozen or so gold on materials, he had reaped a tenfold return—a massive windfall that once again made him the wealthiest gold holder in the White River City region.
Shuise Qiangwei, for her part, was beaming. With this stockpile of weapons and equipment, she could develop her legion into a far more formidable force, quickly turning it into Twilight Echo's top legion. Her influence within the guild would grow accordingly, and she'd see what those elders had to say then.
"Master Hei Yan, shall we set the next trade for four days from now? That happens to be the day Black Wing City holds its auction—how does that sound?" Unknowingly, Shuise Qiangwei's tone toward Shi Feng had grown more like that of a close friend.
"Sure. That way I can also save a pass entry." Shi Feng nodded. He had earned a great deal this time and needed time to forge new weapons and equipment. Meanwhile, Shuise Qiangwei's subordinates had yet to secure all the extra Black Wing City passes they could get, so stretching the timeline suited him fine.
The two parted ways, and Shi Feng went to purchase a large quantity of Frost Grenades. He bought one set of two hundred intermediate Frost Grenades for eighteen gold and five sets of one thousand basic Frost Grenades for thirteen gold and fifty silver—a total of thirty-one gold and fifty silver. He didn't feel the slightest pang of regret, because the gold transferred from Shuise Qiangwei was only the smaller portion of his earnings.
The real prize remained firmly in his hands: the explosively popular Sturdy Stones. Whetstones weren't particularly scarce for Shuise Qiangwei's side—after all, they hailed from the Kingdom of Ores, where such items were plentiful and blacksmiths numbered like hairs on an ox. They weren't under much pressure. But the Star Moon Kingdom was a different story entirely, let alone the guilds in the White River City region that were frantically leveling up.
These guilds craved Sturdy Stones with a desperation bordering on agony, yet could barely get their hands on any. They were probably tearing their hair out.
As for guild members entering White River City no longer needing whetstones—there was no need to worry about that either.
Even after everyone made it into White River City, the durability drain from fighting monsters would persist, and might even grow worse. So Shi Feng had no fear of being unable to sell; the only question was what price to set.
Just as he was about to head back to White River City, Hei Zi sent an urgent message.
"Feng-ge, it's bad! All the guilds in the White River City region are looking for you. They're saying if you don't go on the official forum and give an explanation, every guild in the White River City region will put a bounty on us."