Chapter 276 – God List Rankings

“Zero Wing?” Something came to Xia Qingying’s mind when she heard this name. Then, she looked at the young beauty reporting to her and asked, “Lu Wen, are you talking about the Zero Wing that received five million Star Coins from the Galaxy Corporation?”

“That’s right.” The young beauty named Lu Wen nodded. “Shi Feng, Zero Wing’s member who we sent to Star Lake City previously, has performed excellently in the Star Lake Legion’s selection, coming in 100th place on his first attempt at the test. If Zero Wing can secure Crying Sea City’s Medium Shipyard, it is likely to grow into a hegemonic power in the future. If Zero Wing has the Green God Corporation’s resource assistance on top of that, it is 100% certain to become a hegemonic power.”

“Zero Wing indeed has a lot of potential,” Xia Qingying said, nodding as she read Zero Wing’s information. “Although it has only been established recently, its development in the Miniature Ancient World is rapid. Zero Wing also has an expert like Black Flame. With Black Flame’s recent achievement, he should get into the God List’s top 10 in the next update if nothing unexpected crops up. Moreover, Zero Wing can more or less be considered a local power of our world, so it indeed qualifies to be nurtured by the Green God Corporation.”

“Isn’t it too early to make a decision, Vice President Xia?” a young, handsome man suddenly spoke up. “Zero Wing might have good potential, but the Green God Corporation’s resources don’t fall from the sky. We cannot afford to waste the resources we’ve had to go to great lengths to earn in the Greater World. Otherwise, we won’t have enough to give to powers with true potential.”

The dozen or so Green God Corporation executives present nodded in agreement with the young man’s words.

“That’s right. The corporation’s resources are earned from many years of effort and accumulation in the Greater World. Now that our world’s survival relies on these resources, we must maximize the use of every bit.”

“Indeed, we should choose our partners well. We have only been nurturing individual experts previously. Although some of these individuals have made some achievements in the Greater World, most of them have merely been a waste of our resources. None of them have managed to climb into the upper echelons of the various cities and gain true authority. Now that we are trying to nurture entire powers to give our world some authority in the God’s Domain Association, we must be even more careful with our resources. We will not have a second chance if we invest in the wrong power.”

The executives voiced their opinions one after another, all of them agreeing with the young man’s words. They didn’t think the young man was overstepping his boundaries by speaking against Xia Yingqing. After all, the young man was Jiang Yao, the new Vice President appointed by the President. Moreover, Jiang Yao earned this position by making a considerable contribution. Specifically, he had helped the Green God Corporation form a partnership with a corporation in the Greater World, saving the Green God Corporation a lot of trouble in its upcoming plans.

“Even if Zero Wing receives the Green God Corporation’s support, it will only become an ordinary hegemonic power in the future. However, an ordinary hegemonic power is useless to our world,” Jiang Yao continued when he saw that the other executives agreed with him. “What we need is an upper-ranking hegemonic power. We’ve previously already agreed that the Flower of Seven Sins is the most likely power in our world to become an upper-ranking hegemonic power in the Greater God’s Domain. We currently only have one Grade 1 resource and four Grade 2 resource recommendation slots. But if you find that Zero Wing is a qualified candidate, we can give Zero Wing a Grade 2 resource slot, Vice President Xia.”

None of the executives present voiced an opinion against Jiang Yao’s suggestion.

The Flower of Seven Sins’ recent performance was clear for all to see. Currently, Thousand Scars had already climbed to the 41st rank in the Star Lake Legion selection and completed the Paimon Corporation’s test. Now that she had become an internal member of the Paimon Corporation, she had a very high chance of joining the corporation’s middle management in the future.

As for the Miniature Ancient World’s side, the Flower of Seven Sins had achieved meteoric growth when it came to its experts. Currently, the Flower of Seven Sins already had more than fifty God-ranked experts and several fourth-floor experts. It even had two monsters on the main continent who were nearly as strong as the top 10 monsters on the Miniature Ancient World’s God-ranked Expert List. The Flower of Seven Sins’ comprehensive strength was vastly superior to Zero Wing.

If the Flower of Seven Sins could receive the Green God Corporation’s resource assistance, it probably wouldn’t take long to become a hegemonic power.

Of course, that wasn’t to say Zero Wing was weak. While it might not match the Flower of Seven Sins’ potential, it had Black Flame, an expert capable of entering the God-ranked Expert List’s top 10. Black Flame’s presence would increase Zero Wing’s fame in the myriad worlds’ significantly, so the Guild similarly had great growth potential.

“As you wish.” Xia Qingying frowned at the executives’ reaction. However, she did not speak any further.

Others might not know how the Flower of Seven Sins had suddenly achieved such explosive growth in its God-ranked expert count, but Xia Qingying knew it very well.

It was only because Jiang Yao had given the Flower of Seven Sins the resources in his possession that the Flower of Seven Sins managed to gain such a large batch of God-ranked experts.

Meanwhile, there was a significant difference between the Green God Corporation’s Grade 1 resource slot and Grade 2 resource slot. Grade 2 resource slots only included resources available in the Upper Zone, whereas Grade 1 resource slots included resources in the Greater World. There was at least a tenfold gap simply in the basic resources offered, let alone the resources provided for nurturing core experts.

However, Jiang Yao was also right in saying that the Green God Corporation did not need to nurture an ordinary hegemonic power. Instead, it needed an upper-ranking hegemonic power that could gain real authority in the God’s Domain Association.

Zero Wing certainly had great potential, but there was no hope for it to become an upper-ranking hegemonic power in the Greater God’s Domain.

The difference in resources and expert count between the Flower of Seven Sins and Zero Wing was simply too massive. Had Zero Wing started its development ten years earlier, it might have had a chance at acquiring the Grade 1 resource slot. Unfortunately, reality was a cruel mistress.

…

Miniature Ancient World, Crying Sea City:

Because of Shi Feng’s battle outside the city, a swarm of local experts had flooded Zero Wing’s temporary Residence in the Adventurer’s Association to apply for the Guild.

Meanwhile, in the Association’s lobby, the various foreign powers’ members also discussed Zero Wing, the scene causing local players to feel a sense of pride. It was especially true for Zero Wing’s members.

In the past, whenever the various foreign players came to the Adventurer’s Association to pick up quests, they would always be discussing the experts of other God’s Domain and wondering which expert could get into the God-ranked Expert List and how high these experts could rank.

Now, the situation had changed as everyone was discussing and wondering how highly Black Flame would rank on the God-ranked Expert List.

For the time being, everyone was certain Black Flame could get into the top 10, though how highly he could place within the top 10 was still up for debate. However, even if Black Flame only came in 10th place, it would still be of significant help to Zero Wing. After all, before today, everyone who managed to get within the God-ranked Expert List’s top 10 came from a Higher God’s Domain and sat in high positions in the Greater World’s God’s Domain Association. Meanwhile, the benefits of having such a position in the God’s Domain Association would help a power greatly in the Greater God’s Domain.

…

Zero Wing’s temporary Residence, Guild Leader’s Office:

“I have already relayed all the information the Green God Corporation wishes to convey to you, Guild Leader Black Flame. So long as you sign the contract, Zero Wing will receive the Green God Corporation’s Grade 2 resource slot and the corporation’s full support in the Greater God’s Domain. In exchange, the corporation only asks for 20% of Zero Wing’s shares,” Lu Wen, a Level 124 Oracle dressed in a red sacred robe and going by the name of Colorful Lunarite in-game, said. “The Green God Corporation might not be as powerful as the Greater World’s conglomerates, but it is still a mid-to-upper level corporation in the Greater World. It can offer significant development assistance to a power in the Greater God’s Domain. I’m sure you should know about this, Guild Leader Black Flame.”

“This is indeed a tempting offer,” Shi Feng said, nodding. However, he then shook his head and continued, “But I cannot agree to it.”

“This is a condition no other corporation in the Greater World will offer to Zero Wing, Guild Leader Black Flame. The reason the Green God Corporation is willing to do so is to support local forces,” Colorful Lunarite said. She was greatly confused by Shi Feng’s answer. She couldn’t understand why Shi Feng would reject such an excellent offer. “So long as Zero Wing has the Green God Corporation’s assistance, it can quickly grow into a hegemonic power and gain control over many towns, cities, and resource nodes. Zero Wing will not have to worry about not having a living place in the Greater World for its members.”

“You are right.” Shi Feng nodded. Although Colorful Lunarite was a support-focused Oracle, the aura she radiated was comparable to Tier 3 titled experts. Moreover, she was ridiculously young, looking no more than 25. Colorful Lunarite’s existence was a testament to the Green God Corporation’s strength. “But the Green God Corporation should be aware that Zero Wing, or more specifically, the Asura Mercenary Alliance, is in conflict with the Flower of Seven Sins. If the Green God Corporation is sincere about this partnership, then dismiss the partnership with the Flower of Seven Sins. Otherwise, Zero Wing will not partner with the Green God Corporation.”

“This is simply not possible…”

When Colorful Lunarite looked at Shi Feng’s firm gaze, she couldn’t help but feel that the man was crazy.

There was no way the Green God Corporation would agree to abandon the Flower of Seven Sins for Zero Wing’s sake. It should be known that Zero Wing could only receive this slot because of Xia Qingying’s recommendation. Otherwise, the Guild wouldn’t even be considered for a Grade 2 resource slot.

“A partnership cannot be formed, then,” Shi Feng said definitively.

Seeing that Shi Feng had no intentions of changing his mind, Colorful Lunarite had no choice but to leave and report this matter to Xia Qingying.

In Colorful Lunarite’s opinion, Shi Feng was behaving too arrogantly. He had no idea how large of a gap there existed between Zero Wing and the Flower of Seven Sins. The two couldn’t be put on the same scale at all. Shi Feng would sooner or later come to regret his decision today.

…

Shortly after Colorful Lunarite left Zero Wing, night fell in Crying Sea City. At this time, the Seven Luminaries Alliance suddenly published a new version of the God-ranked Expert List.

As soon as the list came out, an uproar occurred in the entire Miniature Ancient World.

This was because the God-ranked Expert List’s top five positions that had never changed since the list’s introduction in the Miniature Ancient World had finally seen a change. There was even a new name among these top five positions.

Black Flame! Fourth place!

…

TL Notes:

Fixed a mistake I made in Chapter 257 (15th-August-2022):

even a conglomerate like the Green God Corporation -> even the Green God Corporation

(No idea what I was smoking that day.)