Chapter 97 – Arrival of New Era

“If you can hold back those God-ranked experts, there shouldn’t be any problems on my side,” Hidden Soul said, nodding. “I won’t even need ten days to get the mercenary alliance up and running. Also, my suggestion is that we grade the alliance’s members based on contribution. For now, the ranks I have in mind are Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and we will use these ranks to determine how long each member can spend inside these miniature worlds.”

There were a hundred stone doors on the ancient tower’s first floor, which translated to one hundred miniature worlds. That was by no means a large number. Moreover, although the ancient tower had two more floors, the second and third floors would only open when the city was promoted to a higher rank. Hence, there was no way to increase the number of miniature worlds inside the ancient tower within a short period.

However, considering they would be using these miniature worlds to advertise Zero Wing’s mercenary alliance, they needed to make it possible for as many people to experience the effects of these miniature worlds as possible. Otherwise, the number of players joining the mercenary alliance would decrease drastically. Meanwhile, the best way to do so was by limiting the amount of time each player could spend inside these miniature worlds.

“No problem.” Shi Feng nodded in agreement. “But in addition to making contributions, members must also pay a fee to use the miniature worlds. Bronze members will have to pay 200 Magic Crystals per hour, Silver members will get a 10% discount, and Gold members will get a 20% discount.”

The Abyssal Star Ancient City might be powerful, the miniature worlds cost a lot to operate. Each miniature world consumed 100 Magic Crystals per hour when in operation. If converted to Coins, that would be nearly 50 Gold Coins per hour. If Zero Wing tried to subsidize this cost, the Guild would go bankrupt in less than a day.

“My thoughts are similar. I’ll get the city’s management details sorted and send them to you afterward,” Hidden Soul said, having no objections about Shi Feng’s pricing.

In her opinion, there wouldn’t be a problem even if they charged 500 Magic Crystals per hour to use the miniature worlds, let alone 200 Magic Crystals. After all, it was incredibly challenging to grasp the operating principles of Mana under normal circumstances. If her acquaintances were to find out that there was a way to reduce that difficulty by more than tenfold, they would probably beg her to let them stay in the miniature worlds for as long as possible.

Afterward, Shi Feng passed a portion of the Abyssal Star Ancient City’s authority to Hidden Soul and 100,000 Magic Crystals for backup. Then, after making sure that everything was okay, he chose to go offline to rest.

As for the remaining matters relating to the city, he left all decision-making to Hidden Soul. It was without a doubt the best solution. After all, even he wasn’t a match for Hidden Soul when it came to managing a mercenary organization.

Then, once Hidden Soul had stabilized the Abyssal Star Ancient City’s operations, all he needed to do was have Zero Wing secretly garrison the city.

…

Jin Hai City:

When Shi Feng logged out of God’s Domain, the morning sun was already shining into his bedroom on the second floor. Normally, even if he had spent the entire night awake in God’s Domain, he should wake up in a refreshed state. Now, though looked incredibly exhausted as he climbed out of his virtual gaming cabin.

Sure enough, the cabin’s Nutrient Solution isn’t enough to supplement the improvements I made this time.

When Shi Feng saw that the gaming cabin’s Nutrient Solution tank was already empty, he quickly retrieved a bottle of A-rank Nutrient Fluid from the fridge. Then, as soon as he drank it, he could feel his exhausted mind recovering significantly.

Most people might be treating God’s Domain as merely a virtual reality game, but Shi Feng was fully aware that God’s Domain wasn’t just a simple game. Instead, it was also a ladder of evolution.

While playing God’s Domain, players would receive gradual improvements to their brains. Then, their bodies would also start to improve to keep up with their brains’ increased activity.

However, these improvements came at the cost of a huge amount of energy. If players couldn’t replenish the consumed energy in time, they might even end up burning their life energy.

Of course, ordinary Tier 3 players would probably never face a situation where they would burn their life energy. This was because this was a situation that would only occur when the brain had managed to surpass the limits of its mental capacity.

Meanwhile, after Shi Feng recovered from exhaustion, he clenched his fists and smiled.

Although I exhausted myself by using Lightshadow many times, I made a lot of improvements as a result. My physical fitness is probably on par with top-tier athletes now. At this rate, I’ll only need to train in the Body Strengthening Technique for a few more days to reach the half-step master standard.

Although the half-step master standard was nowhere near the master standard, so long as he had the physical fitness of a half-step master, he wouldn’t have to worry about facing hidden threats. He could even join the God’s Domain Alliance and become an official member.

The God’s Domain Alliance would, at most, provide basic support when it came to players who didn’t qualify to become an official member. However, it was completely different once someone became an official member.

So long as someone managed to become an official member of the God’s Domain Alliance, even the various corporations wouldn’t dare to take any actions toward this person in the real world. Not on the surface, at least. Otherwise, it would be a direct provocation to the God’s Domain Alliance, which was something not even international corporations could afford to do.

Because of this, powerful experts who had offended the various superpowers would never be afraid of suffering retaliation in the real world. They simply had to figure out how they could survive in God’s Domain.

Meanwhile, after Shi Feng executed two repetitions of the Body Strengthening Technique, he washed up and got ready to head to the God’s Domain Academy. However, just as he was about to leave his home, the doorbell suddenly rang.

Upon checking the front door’s security camera through his watch, Shi Feng saw a middle-aged man and a young woman standing outside his house. To his surprise, his visitors were Qi Lianshan and Chen Ziyou.

“Instructor Qi? Aren’t we about to head to the Secret Pavilion’s branch headquarters? Why did you suddenly come to my place?” Shi Feng asked, feeling a little surprised and confused as he looked at Qi Lianshan and Chen Ziyou.

Today was a big day for Jin Hai University’s God’s Domain Academy. After all, the visit to the Secret Pavilion’s branch headquarters was essentially a free training session for the Academy’s students and instructors. Meanwhile, the opportunity to train at a transcendental power didn’t come by easily.

“It is because of this that I hurried here to find you, Instructor Shi,” Qi Lianshan said with a bitter smile.

“Did something happen?” Shi Feng asked curiously.

“The problem lies with me.” After taking a look at Chen Ziyou, Qi Lianshan gritted his teeth and continued, “I hope that you can become Ziyou’s instructor, Instructor Shi.”

“Me? Become her instructor?” Shi Feng couldn’t help but look at Chen Ziyou, who currently had her head lowered in silence.

Chen Ziyou was Instructor Qi’s prized pupil. Shi Feng found it hard to imagine that Qi Lianshan would take the initiative to give Chen Ziyou to him. After all, it should be known that apprentice-teacher relationships were given great importance in the current God’s Domain. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many students trying to fight for Wu Lingling.

“That’s right.” Qi Lianshan nodded. Then, he said, “I wouldn’t have wanted to do this, either, if I wasn’t left with no better choice. However, Ziyou can successfully get into God’s Domain’s Talent Camp, this will all be worth it!”

“God’s Domain’s Talent Camp?” Shi Feng couldn’t help but be confused. He had no idea what Qi Lianshan was talking about at all.

“This is a secret I found out only recently.” Withholding no information, Qi Lianshan explained, “The visit to the Secret Pavilion’s branch headquarters today isn’t just a simple tour or training camp. In reality, it is a selection meeting for all God’s Domain Academies in the world. It isn’t just the Secret Pavilion that is involved. Many Super Guilds are also holding tours today as a front for this selection meeting. Meanwhile, the organizer for this meeting is the God’s Domain Alliance.

“It seems that the God’s Domain Alliance is planning to go all-out and nurture a group of geniuses to combat the World Passage’s opening. However, as most fourth-year students have already signed contracts with the various powers, the selection meeting this time is mainly targeted toward third-year students.”