Chapter 1521: Materials of Astronomical Value

Translator:

Exodus Tales

Editor:

Exodus Tales

Chapter 1521 – Materials of Astronomical Value

It’s finally finished.

Shi Feng could not help his elation when he saw the system notification.

In God’s Domain, the income from a Guild town was limited to its Shops and establishments. While the money from these sources might sustain a small Guild, it was nowhere near enough to cover a large Guild’s operation costs. Furthermore, Guilds were required to pay exorbitant system management fees every month.

The monthly management fee for a Basic Town was 5,000 Gold. For an Intermediate Town, it was 15,000 Gold, and for an Advanced Town, it was 50,000 Gold.

If a Guild couldn’t afford the fee, the system would temporarily freeze the Guild’s authority over the town. If the Guild couldn’t pay the fees within three months, they’d lose the town. The system would then hold an auction and sell the tow to the highest bidder.

Aside from the monthly management fees, the Guild was responsible for hiring the various NPCs that operated the town.

Hence, when the various large Guilds considered constructing a town, they had to consider whether or not they could afford to run it.

A Guild city’s expenditures were even higher. The monthly management fee alone could bankrupt an ordinary large Guild several times over. A Basic City already cost 200,000 Gold per month. No ordinary large Guild could gather that much in two or three months, not to mention one, unless it abandoned the Guild’s development and pooled all of its money for the city’s development.

Naturally, a Guild city also had more income sources. Aside from the Shops and establishments, a Guild was allowed to collect tolls from players entering the city. Guild towns didn’t offer this function.

As long as a Guild city attracted a sufficient number of players, the income from the tolls could easily surpass the Shops and establishments’ by several folds. Hence, site selection was extremely important when building a city. If the Guild chose poorly, the city would lose the Guild more money than it could earn.

Following which, Shi Feng contacted Melancholic Smile and had her collect the materials to construct the Magic Workshop while he intended to visit Witch’s Hill.

“Guild Leader, the various large Guilds are currently fighting over the materials you’ve asked for. They’re selling for very high prices. Some of the materials only drop from special 100-man Hell Mode Team Dungeons. It will likely take some time to collect all of these items,” Melancholic Smile said. She was astonished when she read the list of materials Shi Feng had sent. “I’m afraid Mana Ore is going to be particularly difficult to acquire.”

Shi Feng had only asked for 500 Crimson Fire Rocks, 500 Frost Stones, 500 logs of Purple Lightning Wood, 5,000 ingots of Mana Ore, and 100 Advanced Magic Cores, all of which were extremely rare and valuable.

Mana Ore was particularly rare since it dropped randomly when mining with an incredibly low drop-rate. It was also useful in many aspects, such as construction, furnishing, forging, alchemy, and engineering. Although Zero Wing frequently purchased Mana Ore, it only had a stock of a little over 1,300 ingots.

As for the Advanced Magic Core, it only dropped from the Final Bosses in 100-man Hell Mode Team Dungeons. Although the Guild had consistently raided Hell Mode Team Dungeons, it had only collected a little over a dozen cores.

With the amount of money it would cost to purchase the materials Shi Feng had requested, they could buy golden Lands in multiple NPC cities...

“Are a lot of Guilds collecting Mana Ore right now?” Shi Feng asked curiously. “If it’s too difficult to acquire in Star-Moon Kingdom, try Black Dragon Empire or other kingdoms.”

Although Mana Ore was very rare, Guilds weren’t the only ones capable of acquiring the ingots. Many independent players spent their time mining ores in the fields, and a few were bound to get lucky, obtaining a few ingots. With how many independent players there were in the kingdom, it should not be very difficult to collect 1,000 pieces. Among the materials he listed, the Mana Ore should be the easiest to obtain.

The list he had given Melancholic Smile hadn’t even included the Seven Luminaries Crystals. Had he added that to the list, Melancholic Smile would’ve fainted from shock.

Rather than a building, it seemed like he intended to construct a display of pure gold.

“Guild Leader, the ore is very difficult to acquire. Searching other kingdoms and empires won’t change that. The various large Guilds have already purchased every ingot on the market, and any new Mana Ore will be highly contested over...” Melancholic Smile said, smiling bitterly.

“Why?” Shi Feng asked curiously.

As far as Shi Feng could remember, while Mana Ore had been rare and in high demand, Guilds hadn’t necessarily fought over it. Even in the past, Mana Ore hadn’t been cheap, each ingot selling for 30 to 40 Silver.

“It’s due to the Orc Empire’s sudden rise. The Orcs have affected several kingdoms and two empires already, and these countries have dispatched their armies to hold the Orcs back. As a result, an exchange system activated on the frontlines. So far, many items are available for purchase, including the Common Mounts, which most Guilds have been searching desperately for. There are even Bronze Mounts available.

“To purchase these Mounts, players have to complete all sorts of large-scale quests and earn Contribution Points. However, these large-scale quests are extremely difficult. They either required players to reinforce or capture towns. Meanwhile, not only are there a lot of Orcs, but their combat standards are also quite high. In addition, when the Orcs show up, a strange mist covers the area, driving players’ Mana into chaos and decreasing their combat power. Players are only able to stabilize their Mana with Mana Charms, a consumable tool that’s crafted with Mana Ore.

“Aside from that, a lot of ancient ruins have appeared because of the fog. The monsters in these ancient ruins have very high drop-rates. There have been rumors that claim that these ruins contain siege tools from ancient times.

“Hence, the kingdoms and empires’ major powers are frantically collecting Mana Ore in hopes of raiding these ruins and acquiring Guild Mounts as quickly as possible. This, in turn, has resulted in the Mana Ore shortage on the market. The ore’s price has also increased by several times...”

Melancholic Smile’s explanation surprised Shi Feng.

Although he had known that the Orc Empire’s rise would change the game, he hadn’t expected the situation to develop like this.

“I understand. In any case, try to collect as many of these materials as possible. I’ll figure out a way to deal with the Mana Ore problem,” Shi Feng said after giving the matter some thought.

The Magic Workshop was of the utmost importance to Zero Wing. The sooner he constructed it, the sooner he could improve the Guild’s overall strength by a large margin. Moreover, it would help Guild members’ survivability.

Currently, Zero Wing’s combat power relied on its peak experts and siege weapons.

Without these factors, Zero Wing wasn’t even on par with a first-rate Guild, much less super-first-rate Guilds or Super Guilds.

If he could construct the Magic Workshop, however, he could shorten this gap and attract more powerful players to join Zero Wing.

He had to collect these materials.

Following which, Shi Feng disconnected the call and made his way to Witch’s Hill. He intended to deal with the Guild city before worrying about the Mana Ore issue. After all, once Zero Wing had its own city, the Guild would transform yet again.