Chapter 513 - Mysterious Crystal Ball

Melancholic Smile had never before seen any of the numerous forging designs scattered across the stone platform.

“This...” Melancholic Smile was stupefied. No words could describe her shock. “Guild Leader, I’m not dreaming, right?”

She was a forger in her own right, so she knew how valuable these forging designs were.

While the forging designs that could be purchased from the Forging Association were not particularly valuable, forging designs obtained elsewhere were. This was due to the designs’ low drop-rates. However, ordinary forging designs were not enough to nurture a forger; hence the forging designs were so expensive. It was especially true for the forging designs that had very low drop-rates and were meant for producing highly useful items; the prices of such forging designs were astronomical.

Aside from that, there was one more type of forging design that was even more valuable such as the Basic Strengthened Armor Kit Forging Design. Currently, aside from the Horizon Alliance’s three copies, no one had them. Moreover, nobody knew where to obtain these forging designs. As a result, they were even more valuable than Epic Equipment.

Regarding the currently available forging designs, Melancholic Smile had practically learned all of the designs that were available. Even if she hadn’t, she at least knew about them.

However, she had neither seen or heard of any of the forging designs that Shi Feng had scattered all over the table before.

Taking a casual glance at the forging designs, Melancholic Smile’s eyes shone brilliantly.

Every item these designs produced was an item that players needed desperately at this stage of the game.

“A majority of these forging designs detain instructions for the Light Stone. There are also some meant for Level 25 to Level 30 Mysterious-Iron and Secret Silver Equipment. You can let any Advanced Forging Apprentice learn the Light Stone Forging Designs.” Shi Feng chuckled. Slowly, he said, “However, only the three of you can learn these equipment forging designs. You can also leave some to serve as a reward for the members who become Basic Forgers, but all those who wish to learn them must renew their contracts. If they want to leave the Horizon Alliance, fine. But they must first compensate the Guild twenty times the value of the forging designs. If Overwhelming Smile wants to poach our members, let them have at it.”

Shi Feng had long since guessed that Overwhelming Smile would try to poach their Lifestyle players.

These Forging Apprentices had initially joined with the intent of making a living for themselves. Since Overwhelming Smile was willing to offer an absurd salary in addition to shouldering the compensation, many would naturally be tempted.

Before this, Shi Feng had repeatedly told Melancholic Smile to be careful when recruiting members precisely because he wished to avoid this situation. He had also done so with the intention of informing Melancholic Smile of the severity of the matter.

Not even the gods could see through the human heart, let alone mankind.

Only through experiencing hardships could one grow.

There were many things that one could not learn from the experience of others. Only through experience could wisdom be earned. Now that Melancholic Smile had personally experienced such a situation, in the future, she would definitely be more thorough when selecting talented players.

Currently, he had a large number of Light Stone Forging Designs on hand. If Overwhelming Smile would willingly pay the price to poach the Alliance’s members, Shi Feng welcomed them to do so. The Light Stone Forging Designs were very common. In the past, each forging design only sold for several Gold. Moreover, that was when most players had reached Level 45; these forging designs were not particularly valuable.

Only, current players’ levels were not high enough yet to obtain them, resulting in their value increasing significantly. Based on Shi Feng’s initial estimates, each Light Stone Forging Design should be worth around several dozen Gold.

If he wished to acquire more Light Stone Forging Designs, he could obtain a ton of them any time he wanted. This way, he would not have to wait for the profits of the Light Stones to slowly roll in. Just the 20-times compensation Overwhelming Smile had to pay for poaching each member could make a ridiculous amount of Credits. He could make a fortune just by selling Advanced Forging Apprentices.

“Guild Leader, I will definitely be more careful when selecting who I allow to learn these forging designs.” Melancholic Smile was immensely excited when she looked at the Light Stone Forging Designs scattered across the stone platform. However, her greatest joy was due to Shi Feng’s forgiveness and encouragement.

“It’s fine; just pick them at random. Even better, choose those who already have the heart to defect to Overwhelming Smile. Let Overwhelming Smile poach as many as they can. Otherwise, how will I make money?” Shi Feng laughed.

“But...” For a moment, Melancholic Smile wanted to dissuade Shi Feng. However, when she looked at the forging designs on the table, she suddenly came to a realization. “I’ll carry out your orders, then, Guild Leader.”

To others, the Light Stone Forging Design might be a treasure. However, judging from Shi Feng’s behavior, it seemed that they were not valuable in the slightest. Only, others did not know this yet. They would be senseless fools if they did not profit off of Overwhelming Smile’s greed while they had the chance.

A moment later, Melancholic Smile had picked out three Advanced Forging Apprentices. Of them, two seriously considered defecting to Overwhelming Smile. They only held out for the right price. Hence, Melancholic Smile decided to give them this opportunity.

In reality, there were many others with the same intentions within the Horizon Alliance. However, to convince others of the Light Stone Forging Designs’ rarity, she could not allow too many people to learn it at once. An item was as valuable as it was rare. If she did so, the Light Stone Forging Designs would lose their value.

As long as these two Advanced Forging Apprentices learned how to produce the Light Stones, their personal value would immediately skyrocket. In addition to the two’s willingness to defect, Overwhelming Smile would try to poach them at all costs. After all, not only would they deal the Candlelight Trading Firm a blow, they could also steal two of the Trading Firm’s highly valued “talents.”

As Melancholic Smile took care of the Light Stone Forging Design situation, Shi Feng had arrived at his own exclusive forging room. He had set up a private forging room for himself in every Candlelight Trading Firm. Other than himself, no one was allowed into these rooms. He wanted to ensure that he would have access to a forging room at all times.

Inside the quiet forging room, Shi Feng carefully retrieved the God Crystal from his bag.

The translucent crystal ball on the stone table looked simple and ordinary. No matter how he looked at it, it was just an ordinary crystal ball. However, Orc King Tresik had sacrificed hundreds of thousands of his subordinates to obtain this treasure. Moreover, this treasure had even managed to kill a Tier 4 Sky Knight, who had learned a forbidden move, instantly. The crystal ball’s worth was clear.

“Just what is this thing used for?” Shi Feng could not see anything special about the orb despite observing it carefully for a long time.

Moreover, the God Crystal’s information stated that it was only a Common item. Aside from that, no other information was displayed. It was also not in an Unknown or Unappraised state.

“Is there some hidden information about it?” The more Shi Feng thought about it, the more he felt it was possible.

There were many amazing items in God’s Domain that might look ordinary, but in reality, contained power that could even shake the heavens.

In the past, there had been a player who had purchased a piece of dilapidated armor at a bazaar, only to discover that the armor was actually an Epic ranked armor. Such situations often occurred in God’s Domain.

Only after triggering special conditions could one reveal the true value of a treasure.

Shi Feng then used Omniscient Eyes.

After more than half a minute had passed, however, there was still no reaction. He could not glean anything more about the crystal ball.

“Is the level of my Identification Skill insufficient?” Shi Feng muttered in surprise. “It can’t be. I recall Sharlyn saying that the Omniscient Eyes activated using the Golden Stigmata is the second most powerful Identification Skill in God’s Domain. Do I need other items to activate the God Crystal’s true function?”

Shi Feng suddenly had the urge to puke blood.

After wasting so much effort to steal this item, he could not actually use it; he still needed to fulfill some special requirements. Yet, he had no clue as to what those requirements were. It was utterly frustrating.

“Hm? Doesn’t it look a bit like the dark blue crystal ball I got from the Eternal Courtyard?” After the improvement to his brain’s activity, Shi Feng’s memory had become extraordinary. Thus far, he had not been able to do anything about the dark-blue crystal ball. At this moment, seeing as both items were crystal balls and were related to Gods, if someone told him that the two items were unrelated, Shi Feng would not believe them.

Thinking up to this point, Shi Feng left the forging room immediately and rushed towards the Bank.