Batzhan Zhanxiong and Shusheng Tanxiao saw Shi Feng's smile and were visibly indignant, because they interpreted it as mockery and contempt, which put them in a foul mood.
Though in reality Shi Feng's smile had nothing to do with mocking them — it was pure, unbridled joy.
Still, compared to their first encounter with Shi Feng, both Batzhan Zhanxiong and Shusheng Tanxiao now regarded him with a measure of wariness. They no longer dared to underestimate him.
Someone who could produce that many gold coins at once — if there wasn't a powerful force backing him, not even a ghost would believe it. The only question was what kind of force it could be.
Batzhan Zhanxiong had failed to carry out the mission their guild master had assigned, and it showed on their face. But there was nothing to be done about it.
135 gold. Even if the entire Xiong Ba Tian Xia guild pooled every last coin, they still couldn't match that. Failing to buy anything was perfectly normal.
Compared to Batzhan Zhanxiong, Shusheng Tanxiao was in a far worse spot.
First the deal had fallen through, and then at the auction they hadn't managed to secure a single item. They had no idea how to explain themselves back to guild master Rongguang Huixiang.
Shi Feng, however, was genuinely grateful to Shusheng Tanxiao. Thanks to that man's greed, he had ended up with an enormous stockpile of forging materials.
The reason Shi Feng was smiling was that the materials for crafting the Arc Light Shield were now within reach. The primary materials were Mythril Ore and Gold Ore. Mythril Ore he could acquire in limited quantities, but Gold Ore was exceedingly rare — the entire Star Moon Kingdom had precious little of it, let alone White River City. Yet Dusk's Echo had handed him a generous supply, more than enough to craft a large number of Arc Light Shields. As for the secondary material, Magic Spirit Crystals dropped by dungeon bosses, those weren't exactly precious, but each drop was small in quantity. Mass-producing Arc Light Shields would still be no easy feat.
Beyond that, the Arc Light Shield's stats were outstanding — even beyond Shi Feng's expectations. He could already picture how wildly popular they would be.
Arc Light Shield. Shield. Gold-grade. Level 15 equipment. Requirement: 90 Strength. Defense: 460. Block Rate: 37%. Strength +15, Stamina +25, Evasion +8. Passive Skill 1 — Voice of Life: every time you take damage, gain one stack of Life Force, increasing maximum HP by 3% and healing received by 1% for one minute, stacking up to 10 times. Passive Skill 2 — Refraction: triggers once every 30 seconds, nullifying one instance of incoming damage.
Never mind the high defense and block rate on their own — the 30% maximum HP boost from Voice of Life and the Refraction effect would dramatically increase any main tank's staying power. And the shield's base stats were nothing to scoff at either. This was absolutely top-tier equipment.
If five or six main tanks were geared with Arc Light Shields, attempting a normal-difficulty fifty-person raid dungeon might actually become feasible.
"Time to head back," Shi Feng said to himself, thoroughly satisfied with the Black Wing City trip. It had been a bountiful harvest.
First, a contract worth fifty million credit points. Then recruiting Shui Se Qiang Wei to his side. And now, obtaining the Arc Light Shield. Most importantly, Shui Se Qiang Wei had brought over a hundred elite players, instantly bolstering Shi Feng's strength by a huge margin. The next challenge would be putting it all to good use.
"A hundred-plus people… Shui Se Qiang Wei really did me an enormous favor. Now I don't need to worry about lacking manpower for Devil's Castle." Shi Feng felt the studio alone was no longer sufficient — he needed to make preparations and launch a pre-order plan ahead of schedule.
After leaving the Black Wing Auction House, Shi Feng immediately mailed 300 gold to Shui Se Qiang Wei, then returned to White River City to wait quietly at the Star Trail Trading Company for their arrival.
Mailed funds typically took anywhere from half an hour to an hour to arrive, so Shi Feng headed to the Adventurer's Guild first.
At present, no guild in White River City had a guild headquarters. Members from every guild came to the Adventurer's Guild to take on guild quests, raise guild prestige, and grow their organizations. As a result, the Adventurer's Guild had become the second-busiest spot in White River City.
The moment Shi Feng walked in, his communicator chimed.
"That was fast," Shi Feng muttered, thinking it might be Shui Se Qiang Wei reaching out. But the caller ID showed Bai Qingxue, and he couldn't help but be mildly surprised. "Could it be about the Mana Armor Plates again?"
Last time, Shi Feng had traded a batch of Basic Mana Armor Plates for several High-Grade Whetstone blueprints, which he'd given to Youyu Weixiao and Shuang Ke Ke to study. In the time since, both had advanced to Intermediate Forging Apprentices and were pushing toward Advanced. They truly lived up to their potential as future master blacksmiths — their progress was remarkable, and their success rates kept climbing with practice. Now, crafting High-Grade Whetstones alone, their success rate hovered around 20%, far surpassing the smiths of other guilds. In all likelihood, they'd reach Advanced Forging Apprentice within days, becoming his genuine pillars of support.
"Miss Bai, don't tell me you've gotten your hands on another High-Grade Whetstone blueprint?" Shi Feng asked.
"Master Hei Yan, you really kept me in the dark. Something this big and you didn't bother to let me know — that stings a little." Bai Qingxue's smile was light but unmistakably reproachful.
"Kept you in the dark? Miss Bai, you're too kind. I'm quite transparent — easy to see through." Shi Feng joked.
"Enough with the act. You made quite the splash at the Black Wing Auction House. Every major guild has already heard about it, and they all want to partner up with you to buy Arc Light Shields." Bai Qingxue's tone was amused. "We're old acquaintances after all — surely you can cut me a deal?"
"Your sources are impressively well-informed, Miss Bai." Shi Feng smiled wryly. "I can certainly sell some Arc Light Shields to you, but payment must be in gold coins, or you can trade Magic Spirit Crystals from your dungeon runs."
"Magic Spirit Crystals — every boss drops them, but the quantities are meager. Still, their uses are wide and varied. I'd rather just pay in gold. How much are you asking, Master Hei Yan?" Bai Qingxue knew enough about Magic Spirit Crystals to shake her head at the idea of trading them.
"Fine, I won't gouge you. As a Gold-grade shield, you know the crafting materials are extremely rare, and the success rate is incredibly low. Twenty-five gold per Arc Light Shield, non-negotiable." Shi Feng had known she wouldn't agree to the crystal exchange, but gold was even better.
"Twenty-five gold! Even our entire Snake of the Body guild doesn't have that kind of liquid capital right now. Can't we pay in credit points instead — five hundred thousand per shield?" Bai Qingxue was taken aback, though she understood the difficulty of crafting Gold-grade shields. For any other blacksmith, the raw cost alone would probably exceed that price. But dropping 25 gold per shield was plainly impossible — not without stalling the guild's growth entirely. And at this stage, stagnation was tantamount to regression.
Yet every guild was scrambling to claim the First Clear on fifty-person raid dungeons, and the Arc Light Shield was a crucial edge — a must-have.
It was a dilemma with no clean answer, and Bai Qingxue could only smile bitterly.
"Fine. I'll pay in Magic Spirit Crystals." Resignation colored her voice. Here was the mighty first-rate guild Snake of the Body, and they couldn't even outspend a lone free player. Hei Yan was nothing short of a monster.
"Deal. The exchange rate is one crystal to one gold. I'll notify you once they're crafted."
Shi Feng grinned and ended the call, then stepped into the Adventurer's Guild.