White River City was the fifth most populous city in the Star Moon Kingdom. Although it was much smaller than Black Wing City, simply walking through the entire city would take at least a few days.
The teleportation hall was located in the southwest of White River City, close to the city gate, while the city hall stood in the central district, situated at White River Square in the Trade District.
Because White River City was a proper city, its management system was far stricter than that of any town, and it was also much more prosperous. As the central city overseeing hundreds of towns, it attracted a multitude of merchants. Shops selling all kinds of goods lined both sides of every street—bars, restaurants, fruit shops, clothing stores, leather shops, armor stores, magic shops, alchemy workshops, blacksmith forges, and more.
In the city, players were not allowed to set up stalls freely. If they wanted to sell items, they had to purchase a shop. However, shop prices in the city were extremely expensive—far beyond what an ordinary player could afford. Moreover, shops couldn't simply be bought whenever one wished; a certain reputation level was required, and only then could one purchase a shop in the corresponding area of White River City.
But that didn't mean players had no way to sell things.
The first method was to use the Auction House. White River City's Auction House was very prosperous, connected to the eight nearest cities with smaller populations. As long as items were listed there, players from all eight cities could see them. However, the fees were anything but cheap. The listing fee alone was determined by the item's value and the duration of the listing, and on top of that, an 8% auction fee was deducted from the sale.
If selling through the Auction House, roughly 15% in commissions would be taken—it was quite the ripoff, which was why items in the city Auction House tended to be expensive. Listing small items was simply not worth it.
The second method was the large open-air market that White River City held in the square every three days. Players only had to pay a small fee to set up a stall and sell their wares, making it very suitable for free players. The only downside was that it was held only once every three days, started only at night, and lasted a mere ten hours.
For those who weren't interested in leveling up, fighting monsters, or adventuring, and instead wanted to develop their careers in the Divine Realm, purchasing their own shop in White River City was extremely important. Only shops could operate nonstop for forty-eight hours, and as the Divine Realm developed, owning a shop in White River City could generate income rivaling that of opening a real-world store. What's more, the transaction volume in the Divine Realm was even greater, making it easier to earn money.
In his previous life, many players who had given up on leveling spent every last coin to buy a shop. Even if the location was extremely remote, the money they earned was enough to live comfortably in the real world with plenty to spare.
Shi Feng took a carriage to the city hall.
Compared to a town's city hall, White River City's city hall was truly majestic and imposing—ten stories tall, with a footprint the size of a football field. More than twenty guard knights stood at the main entrance, all of them Level 150 Elites. The guard captain was a Level 160 second-tier knight. Their combined strength was enough to effortlessly wipe out an entire town.
Moreover, cities as large as White River City always had two or three fourth-tier class powerhouses standing guard. Powerful monsters and dark forces wouldn't dare come anywhere near.
The moment Shi Feng stepped into the city hall, a slender beauty approached him.
"Respected sir, is there anything I can help you with?" the beautiful receptionist asked, blinking her large eyes.
"I'd like to see Governor Wiseman. I have a letter of introduction from Black Whiskers." As he spoke, Shi Feng displayed his Demon Hunter title.
Ordinary people had absolutely no right to meet White River City's Governor Wiseman. One needed a certain status—the governor was essentially the mayor, wielding complete military and administrative authority over White River City. The minimum requirement for an audience was to become a noble of White River City. However, Shi Feng's reputation with White River City was still far from noble status, so he had no choice but to reveal his Demon Hunter identity.
"So you're the Demon Hunter. Governor Wiseman is currently attending to official business and you'll need to wait for a while. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait in the lounge. I'll notify Governor Wiseman right away." Upon seeing Shi Feng's title, the receptionist immediately became respectful. Nobles were beings that common folk like her could never afford to offend, even those who worked for the kingdom.
"Go ahead and notify him, then." Shi Feng nodded and walked toward the lounge.
Sitting in the empty lounge with nothing to do, Shi Feng opened his system communications.
Beep beep beep...
He had deliberately turned off his system communication earlier to avoid being disturbed, so no one could contact him. But the moment he turned it back on, he found several hundred communication requests waiting. Shi Feng recognized many of the senders—they were high-ranking members of various major guilds in White River City, some even vice presidents or elders.
Ci Xin and Bai Qingxue were naturally among them. After all, the advantage of being the first to enter White River City was enormous. A quick survey of the leveling areas—which zones were fastest for leveling, which had the most mineral resources—along with city quest information, city rules, and countless other secrets were things everyone else knew nothing about before entering the city.
Being the first to know these things was an enormous asset for any guild. It meant claiming the best leveling spots ahead of others, being the first to pick up high-tier quests, the first to purchase daily or weekly limited items, the first to gather ore and herbs and other resources. This information could help a guild pull steadily ahead of the competition—naturally, these guilds were desperate to get their hands on it.
Especially now, since these guilds were nearly level ten and about to enter White River City. If they could get this information, they would be able to adapt to the new environment immediately, steadily level up and gather resources, and save the time they would otherwise waste gathering information themselves—putting them further ahead of guilds from other cities.
With so many benefits at stake, these guilds naturally wouldn't let Shi Feng off the hook. They would try every possible way to contact him—only to find, to their dismay, that Shi Feng had simply switched off his communications, making it impossible to reach him.
The only option left was to send messages, which resulted in several thousand messages piling up in Shi Feng's inbox. Reading through all of them would take at least four or five hours.
But since Shi Feng had nothing better to do, he browsed through them to see which guilds were worth dealing with. After all, he was still a free player. If he refused to sell any information at all, he would end up making enemies of everyone. With his current strength and influence, doing so would end badly. So he would pick and choose. Ci Xin and Bai Qingxue went without saying—they were friends, after all, and he would sell information to them at a relatively favorable price. As for the other guilds, that was another matter entirely.
As for what information to sell, Shi Feng needed to think carefully. After all, he knew far too much—White River City was practically his home. He couldn't sell everything. He had to consider which pieces of information he could part with—information that would be intriguing enough for these guilds to pay handsomely for, yet not so useful that it would give them any real advantage and become an obstacle down the road.
Striking that delicate balance gave Shi Feng quite the headache. (To be continued...)