Chapter 243 - Bountiful Harvest

Overlord War Bear and Joking Scholar felt great resentment for Shi Feng when they saw his smile; they thought Shi Feng was mocking them and looking at them in contempt.

In reality, Shi Feng’s smile was purely due to his joy.

However, compared to when Overlord War Bear and Joking Scholar first met Shi Feng, they dared not underestimate him any longer. On the contrary, their eyes were filled with vigilance now.

Shi Feng showed everyone that he was more than capable of spending such a large amount of Coins. If someone were to say that Shi Feng did not possess any major power supporting him from behind, not even a ghost would believe them. The only question that remained was, what sort of power backed Shi Feng?

Since War Bear failed to complete the task given to him by his Guild Leader, his expression looked extremely bad right now. However, he was simply helpless in this matter.

One hundred thirty-five Gold. Even if every member of World Dominators pooled their Coins together, they still wouldn’t be able to collect such an amount. It was only natural that he lost the bid.

Compared to Overlord War Bear, Joking Scholar was in a much more tragic situation.

First, he had ruined the matter of the business transaction. Now, he didn’t even manage to buy a single item in the Blackwing Auction. What kind of explanation was he supposed to give his Guild Leader, Glorious Echo?

However, Shi Feng was very grateful for Joking Scholar. It was only thanks to Joking Scholar’s greed that he managed to obtain so many forging materials.

As for the reason why he had smiled, it was simply because of the materials needed to produce the Arclight Shield. The main ingredients for producing it were Mithril Ore and Gold Ore. Though difficult, Shi Feng could still find ways to obtain the Mithril Ore. For Gold Ore, however, it was simply too rare in the Star-Moon Kingdom, not to mention White River City. However, Twilight Echo had given him quite an amount of them, enough for him to make plenty of Arclight Shields. As for the other material needed, it was the Magic Crystals that were dropped by the Bosses of Team Dungeons with a 100% drop rate. This item was not particularly precious. However, due to the amount dropped each time being low, it would be difficult for Shi Feng to mass-produce the Arclight Shield.

Furthermore, the Attributes of the Arclight Shield had far surpassed Shi Feng’s original estimation, and he could already envision the popularity of the shield itself.

[Arclight Shield] (Shield, Fine-Gold Rank)

Level 15

Equipment Requirement: Strength 90

Defense +460

Block Rate: 37%

Strength +15, Endurance +25

Evasion +8

Additional Passive Skill 1-

Sound of Life: Every attack received will grant user a stack of Power of Life, increasing maximum HP by 3% and received healing by 1% for 1 minute. Maximum of 10 stacks.

Additional Passive Skill 2-

Refraction: Triggers once every 30 seconds. Becomes immune to one attack.

Leaving aside the shield’s high Defense and Block Rate, just the passive skills Sound of Life and Refraction would greatly increase an MT’s durability. Not to mention, the Basic Attributes of the Shield itself were also very good. The Arclight Shield was definitely an excellent piece of equipment.

If a 50-man team could have all their MTs equipped with the Arclight Shield, they might have a very high chance of successfully raiding the Normal Mode of a 50-man Team Dungeon right now.

It should be about time for me to return. Shi Feng was very satisfied with his trip to Blackwing City this time. He had reaped a bountiful harvest.

First was the 50 million Credit agreement. Next was his successful recruitment of Aqua Rose. Now, he had even obtained the Forging Design for the Arclight Shield. Most importantly, Aqua Rose was also going to bring her 100-plus elite players over. Their addition had instantly increased his Guild’s overall strength by a large margin. The next problem he had to deal with was how he would integrate these new members into his Guild.

“Over a hundred people, huh? Aqua Rose has truly given me a huge help this time. Now, I won’t have to worry about lacking members to raid the Demon’s Castle.” Shi Feng felt that it would not be enough just to have a Workshop. He needed to make some additional preparations and initiate his follow-up plans.

After Shi Feng departed from the Blackwing Auction House, he immediately mailed 300 Gold to Aqua Rose. He then returned to White River City, intending to await Aqua Rose and her allies’ arrival at the Starstreak Trading Firm.

However, the process of mailing money to other players usually took between 30 minutes to an hour.

Hence, Shi Feng decided to first head to the Adventurer’s Association.

Currently, none of the Guilds in White River City had their own Guild Residence yet. Members of various Guilds had to visit the Adventurer’s Association in order to receive Guild Quests, which they complete to increase Guild Reputation and strengthen the Guild. Hence, the Adventurer’s Association had become the second most-popular location in White River City.

Just as Shi Feng was about to enter the Adventurer’s Association, his communicator rang.

“It can’t be this quick, right?” At first, Shi Feng thought Aqua Rose was contacting him. However, when he saw that the caller ID displayed actually belonged to Gentle Snow, he couldn’t help but be shocked. “Don’t tell me it’s about the Mana Armor Kits again?”

Previously, Shi Feng had used quite a number of Basic Mana Armor Kits to trade for a few Advanced Whetstone Recipes with Gentle Snow. He had then let Cream Cocoa and Melancholic Smile learn the recipes. During this period of time, both girls had already been promoted to Intermediate Forging Apprentices, and were currently in the midst of striving to become Advanced Forging Apprentices.

Shi Feng couldn’t help but admit that both of them were indeed future Master Forgers. Both of them improved very quickly. In addition, the more they forged, the higher their success rate. Currently, they already had a 20% success rate at producing the Advanced Whetstones. When compared to the forgers of other Guilds, the two girls were ahead by leaps and bounds. In a few more days, the two of them could very well be promoted to Advanced Forging Apprentices, becoming a true help to him.

“Miss Snow, did you find some new Advanced Whetstone Recipes?” Shi Feng asked.

“Master Black Flame, how could you hide such an important matter from me? I feel hurt.” Gentle Snow faintly smiled.

“Hide? Miss Snow, you must be joking. I am a very superficial person that can easily be seen through. How could I possibly hide anything from you?” Shi Feng joked.

“Alright, stop acting. You placed yourself in the limelight at the Blackwing Auction House just now, and the news of this matter has long since spread throughout the various first-rate Guilds. Each and every one of them wishes to seek cooperation with you and purchase those Arclight Shields from you.” Gentle Snow smiled as she continued, “Aren’t we old friends? Shouldn’t you sell them to me for a cheap price?”

“Your information gathering is truly efficient, Miss Snow.” Shi Feng smiled bitterly as he said, “I can sell a few Arclight Shields to you. However, you must pay for them using Coins, or exchange for them using the Magic Crystals you obtained from Team Dungeons.”

“Magic Crystals? Although the Bosses drop them every time, the amount they drop is minimal, yet these Magic Crystals possess a very wide range of uses. Let’s just use Gold Coins. I wonder how much you are charging for them, Master Black Flame?”

“Alright, then. Since it is for you, Miss Snow, I won’t rip you off. As the Arclight Shield is a Fine-Gold ranked shield, I imagine that you know how precious the materials needed to produce it are. Moreover, the success rate of producing it is also very low. I’ll sell you each Arclight Shield for 25 Gold, no negotiations.” Shi Feng had already expected Gentle Snow to decline exchanging the shields for Magic Crystals. However, it was much better for him if she used Gold Coins to buy them.

“Twenty-five Gold?! Even if I took the fluid funds of every Ouroboros branch in the Star-Moon Kingdom, I still won’t have that much money! Can’t we trade using Credits? How about 500,000 for each shield?” Gentle Snow was astonished by the Arclight Shield’s price. However, she similarly knew of the difficulty of crafting a Fine-Gold ranked shield. If it were up to their forgers to make the shield, the cost might not even stop at just 25 Gold. Yet, it was clearly impossible for them to fork out 25 Gold to purchase an Arclight Shield, unless of course, they decided to stop the Guild’s development. Still, halting development at this stage of the game would put the Guild into a decline, so they absolutely could not stop their development.

Currently, all the major Guilds were attempting to obtain the First Clear of a 50-man Team Dungeon, while the Arclight Shield was a must-have item for them to get a lead over the other Guilds.

Faced with two difficult choices, Gentle Snow could only bitterly smile as she was caught in indecision.

“Alright, then. I’ll exchange using Magic Crystals,” Gentle Snow helplessly said. Ouroboros, a grand and mighty first-rate Guild, was actually poorer than a single independent player. Black Flame was truly a monster.

“That’s fine as well. The exchange ratio would be 1-to-100. I’ll notify you after I manage to produce them.”

Shi Feng smiled as he disconnected the call. He then proceeded to enter the Adventurer’s Association.