Chapter 511 – Trading Firm Upgraded

Crystal City of Secrets, Underground Crystal Palace’s entrance plaza:

Several streaks of light fell next to the plaza fountain as Shi Feng and his teammates returned from the Underground Crystal Palace.

“We’re finally back.” Desolate Fury looked at the crowded Mijing Square with a sense of relief. “I can really use a good meal after three days of constant battling.”

“I don’t think it’s time for us to rest yet,” Leroja said as she glanced around and noticed that many more players had come to challenge the Underground Crystal Palace. Then, she turned to Shi Feng and asked, “When will we be leaving, Guild Leader Black Flame?”

!!

“Everyone is tired, and I still need to do some preparation, so let’s take a break first,” Shi Feng said, chuckling when he saw Leroja’s eagerness. “How about we meet at the Blue Rose Bar in three hours?”

If a player didn’t die in the Underground Crystal Palace, they would have to spend three full days in the secret land before they could leave. Hence, after killing Tia, Shi Feng and the others continued hunting Graystone Battle Apes, obtaining an extra two dozen Common Secret Treasures and completing a fourth Graymoon Secret Treasure Set.

Of the four Graymoon Sets, Shi Feng distributed three to Desolate Fury, Cross, and Leroja while keeping the last set for himself. As for the Ice Crystal Set, he decided it’d be best if Gentle Snow equipped it. Meanwhile, after equipping their respective Secret Treasure Sets, their group of five saw a significant improvement in their overall combat power.

After distributing the Secret Treasure Sets, Shi Feng told Desolate Fury, Cross, and Leroja that he hoped they could go to a place to help him with something, to which the trio readily agreed. They didn’t even ask where they would be going or what they needed to do.

“Guild Leader Black Flame.” After exiting the Underground Crystal Palace, Ink Qilin hesitated for a moment before seeking out Shi Feng and earnestly saying, “It is thanks to your help this time we are able to have such a significant harvest. May I know if there is anything I can help you with?”

“Vice Commander?” River Light looked at Ink Qilin in surprise.

The Scarecrow Fox adventurer team had always acted independently and would never approach any powers. This was also Ink Qilin’s style of doing things.

“Will that…be fine?” Shi Feng also knew about the Scarecrow Fox adventurer team’s manner of operation, so he couldn’t help but find Ink Qilin’s offer surprising.

In reality, Shi Feng did plan to bring some experts back to the Miniature Ancient World with him. After all, the Miniature Ancient World was currently targeted by many Realms, so it would be unrealistic for him to try to tackle this problem by himself.

“It’s fine.” Ink Qilin nodded. “This is my decision. If I act alone, the commanders won’t have any opinions.”

As soon as Ink Qilin finished speaking, the other Scarecrow Fox members promptly spoke up as well.

“How sly of you, Vice Commander. You should count us in as well if you’re going to be helping Guild Leader Black Flame.”

“That’s right, Big Sis Qilin! Guild Leader Black Flame has helped us a ton this time. If we’re talking about helping him, we should all go!”

All of the Scarecrow Fox members present took the initiative to join Ink Qilin in helping Shi Feng. Rather than object to helping Shi Feng, they looked forward to doing so.

Meanwhile, Gentle Snow couldn’t help but be moved by this scene. While she wasn’t a member of Scarecrow Fox, she knew how strictly the adventurer team was against involvement with other powers. Depending on the impact of their actions, Ink Qilin and the others could be dismissed from Scarecrow Fox.

As for Shi Feng, he couldn’t help but be put in an awkward position when he saw Scarecrow Fox members’ eagerness to help. After waiting for everyone’s excitement to settle down, he said, “Everyone, while I do need help, I can only bring a small number of people with me.”

While he did plan to bring some helpers back to the Miniature Ancient World, he also planned to bring a batch of people to the Eternal Realm for Zero Wing’s development. Meanwhile, the Abyss Workshop Certification could only teleport up to twenty people at a time. So, he could only bring a few people with him to the Miniature Ancient World, lest these people wished to stay there for the foreseeable future.

“In that case…” Seeing the awkwardness in Shi Feng’s expression, Ink Qilin looked to her subordinates and said, “River Light, Blaze Eye, and I will follow Guild Leader Black Flame while the rest of you take a break in the Crystal City.”

Ultimately, the members of Scarecrow Fox could only go along with Ink Qilin’s arrangement. Ink Qilin, along with River Light and Blaze Eye, were the strongest members of their team. If only a limited number of people could follow Shi Feng, the three of them would be the most suitable candidates.

Following this, Shi Feng parted ways with everyone, making his way to the Secret Crystal Trading Firm, which was located on the city’s outskirts, by himself.

Although the One-star Heroic Mark didn’t have an expiration date, the earlier he upgraded the trading firm, the earlier it could start bringing him fortunes. It would also help in changing everyone’s mindset. If he waited too long, and the notion that the Eternal Realm’s trading firms were unprofitable became deeply set in everyone’s mind, it would take a lot of effort to change everyone’s opinions later on.

…

Secret Crystal Trading Firm:

Now that three days had already passed since access to the Underground Crystal Palace was made available, the number of players visiting the Secret Crystal Trading Firm had decreased significantly. At this time, only a couple of teams could be seen selecting commissions to challenge on the first-floor hall.

“Sure enough, the various powers have already swiped all the commissions made by nobles. It looks like we can only take on these Advanced Guard Quests,” a Level 153 middle-aged man carrying a huge axe on his back said in frustration as he looked at the commission list presented by the receptionist.

“Boss, we’ve saved up quite a bit of money recently. Why don’t we go to the Underground Crystal Palace?” a Level 152 Elementalist youth standing next to the middle-aged Berserker suggested. “Many teams have suffered at the hands of the Holy Race recently. Not only did these teams not make any money, but they even lost their deposit. Even if advanced commissions don’t require large deposits, the risk and reward are not proportional. We’d be better off trying our luck in the Underground Crystal Palace. I heard that the teams that went to the Underground Crystal Palace returned with huge harvests. With our team’s strength, we can definitely give it a try.”

“…I guess you’re right.” The middle-aged Berserker nodded after pondering over the young Elementalist’s words for a moment. “Alright! Let’s try our luck in the Underground Crystal Palace. If we’re lucky enough to find a Secret Treasure, we’ll strike it rich!”

After saying so, the middle-aged Berserker led his team out of the first-floor hall, making the already sparsely populated hall even more desolate.

When Shi Feng saw this scene, he didn’t think much of it and went upstairs.

The appearance of the Holy Race turned all profitable trading firms in NPC Cities into losing businesses, but the channels for players to make money in NPC Cities have also increased. In the case of the Crystal City of Secrets, players could earn a huge profit just by obtaining some materials from the Underground Crystal Palace or drawing maps of the secret land.

Not to mention, there was also the possibility of obtaining Secret Treasures in the Underground Crystal Palace. Currently, even a Common Secret Treasure could sell for dozens of Eternal Gold. That was already enough money to buy an ordinary shop in the Crystal City’s suburbs. If one was lucky enough to obtain two Secret treasures, one could even purchase a shop inside the city.

Meanwhile, whether one decided to lease their shop to others or use it to do business, one would be guaranteed a steady income. This was because NPC Cities were currently regarded as the safest places in the Eternal Realm for both players and NPCs. Because of this, many NPCs would visit NPC Cities to trade. Not only would these NPCs sell quality items to the city’s shops, but they would also purchase items from shops. During the early stages of the Eternal Realm, the buying power of NPCs was even greater than players.

Therefore, the number of players willing to visit the trading firm in the Crystal City of Secrets was even lower than that of other NPC Cities.

A short while later, Shi Feng arrived at the core room located on the Secret Crystal Trading Firm’s top floor. Then, he carefully took out the One-star Heroic Mark from his bag.

Unlike the trading firms of Guild Cities, the trading firms of the Eternal Realm’s NPC Cities required prestige to be upgraded. Meanwhile, a Heroic Mark was the best way to convince NPC nobles of a trading firm’s strength and get them to make commissions with the trading firm.

…

System: Do you want to engrave the One-star Heroic Mark into the trading firm’s core magic array? After engraving the One-star Heroic Mark, the trading firm needs to be upgraded into an Advanced Trading Firm, and the upgrade will cost 1,000 Eternal Gold. Do you wish to proceed with the engraving?

…

“Engrave it!”

Shi Feng answered without hesitation. Throughout the past three days, he had already received the subsequent profits generated from the Earthen Magic Flower sales and obtained 1,990 Eternal Gold. Not even pseudo-apex powers had this much liquidity.