Chapter 200 – Four Months

“You don’t need any assistance, but you want 1,000 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid in return?”

Aqua Rose was stunned by Shi Feng’s response. In her opinion, what Zero Wing needed the most right now was help against the Flower of Seven Sins. After all, should the Flower of Seven Sins go all out, even the Asura Mercenary Alliance wouldn’t be able to keep itself afloat, let alone Zero Wing. It wouldn’t take more than a week for Zero Wing to crumble under the Flower of Seven Sins’ pressure.

Yet, Shi Feng was saying that Zero Wing did not need any external assistance...

While the Flower of Seven Sins might not have all of its forces concentrated in the Miniature Ancient World, it shouldn’t be underestimated. After all, three of its seven commanders had entered the Miniature Ancient World. Moreover, all three were working specifically to topple the Asura Mercenary Alliance.

Zero Wing might have a Tier 6 God-ranked expert, but there was only so much one person could accomplish. Unless Zero Wing chose to hole itself up in Abyssal Star City, it would never be safe from the Flower of Seven Sins. However, if Zero Wing chose to do that, even if it had Abyssal Star City’s advantages to rely on, its limited range of operation would cause it to fall behind the other powers in no time.

Not to mention, 1,000 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid was a significant sum even to God’s Domain’s various superpowers. In fact, the average superpower couldn’t even take out so many S-rank Nutrient Fluids. After all, the supply of S-rank Nutrient Fluids was limited, and one couldn’t necessarily buy it even if one had the money to do so.

Meanwhile, the offer of 300 bottles was the best Twilight Echo and the Secret Pavilion could do. After all, their two Guilds needed S-rank Nutrient Fluids to develop their own experts. If they were to concentrate all of their S-rank Nutrient Fluids on the development of their newcomers, the growth of their experts would stagnate. If they did something as foolish as that, they’d essentially be putting the cart before the horse.

“Your asking price is too much, Mr. Shi Feng,” Unyielding Ice said. “Your training method might be effective, but it is only effective up to the Refinement Realm. Even without your training method, we can similarly produce a large number of Refinement Realm experts so long as we are willing to invest a little more time. The most sincere offer we can give you is 300 bottles. I doubt anyone else in God’s Domain will make you a better offer.”

The offer of 300 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid was a joint effort by Twilight Echo and the Secret Pavilion. If it were up to any other superpower, they would, at most, offer 100 bottles for Shi Feng’s training method. After all, the training method in question had limited value since it merely shortened the time it took for geniuses to reach the Refinement Realm. It wasn’t worth investing too much into such a training method.

Shi Feng wasn’t surprised to hear Unyielding Ice’s rejection. Smiling, he asked, “If you find my price not worthwhile, why don’t we make a different deal?”

“A different deal?” Aqua Rose caressed her cheek as she looked at Shi Feng curiously. “May I know what kind of deal you have in mind, Mr. Shi Feng?”

“I will nurture your talents for you and help them become second-floor experts in the shortest amount of time possible. In exchange, all you need to do is pay Zero Wing a fee of five bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid per person. However, I will only accept Refinement Realm experts under the age of 18 and Half-step Refinement Realm experts under 17 for training. Of course, you will be responsible for your own talents’ S-rank Nutrient Fluid requirements. Even so, I’m sure this is a worthwhile price for your two Guilds,” Shi Feng said, chuckling.

“Second-floor experts? It seems you know quite a lot, Mr. Shi Feng,” Aqua Rose said as she started to look at Shi Feng more seriously. Then, she shook her head and continued, “However, this transaction is too much of a loss for us. Not only will we have to pay you five bottles per person, but we will also have to be responsible for our talents’ requirements. If that’s the case, we might as well nurture our talents ourselves. After all, nurturing a genius into a second-floor expert will only cost around a dozen bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid. If we leave our geniuses to you, we might have to spend more than that amount, Mr. Shi Feng.”

The term “second-floor expert” might be foreign to most powers in their God’s Domain, but as a Tier 6 God-ranked expert, she had long since become very familiar with this term.

The entry standard of a second-floor expert was to have the combat power of a Void Realm expert. Achieving this standard wasn’t a difficult task for the various superpowers’ peak geniuses. With the training systems available in the current era, these peak geniuses could climb from the Refinement Realm to the Void Realm in just two or three years. Moreover, these peak geniuses would only need five or six bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid per year.

“But what if I say I will need only four months?” Shi Feng asked, smiling.

It wasn’t an easy task for a superpower to produce a peak expert. Firstly, not all geniuses had the potential to reach the Void Realm. Secondly, even if a genius had the necessary potential, it would still take them a long time to reach the Void Realm. Depending on their talent, it might take them two to four years to climb from the Refinement Realm to the Void Realm.

Peerless geniuses could shorten this process to under two years, but it would still take more than a year.

“Four months?” Unyielding Ice widened her eyes as she stared at Shi Feng in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

Even a peerless genius receiving the full support of a superpower couldn’t go from the Refinement Realm to the Void Realm in just four months, let alone peak geniuses.

If Shi Feng really could turn peak geniuses into Void Realm experts in just four months, it would be of massive help to Twilight Echo. After all, second-floor experts were incredibly rare, even among the various superpowers.

Not to mention, the World Passage was about to open soon, so the demand for peak experts had never been higher. If Twilight Echo could welcome a new batch of peak experts in four months, it would have a much easier time resisting the effects of the Outerworld’s invasion.

“Naturally. If any of those peak geniuses fail to reach the second-floor standard in four months, I won’t charge you anything for their training,” Shi Feng said confidently. “However, they must listen to my every command throughout the training period. If they do not follow my instructions, I cannot guarantee that they will reach the second-floor standard in four months.”

If it was before he had visited the Stratified Abyssal Realm, he would never have dared to make such a bold claim.

However, now that he was a Vice City Lord in Slumber City, he could get his hands on a large number of Hypersensitivity Potions easily. If he paired these potions with the talented geniuses of Twilight Echo and the Secret Pavilion, those geniuses would have no trouble becoming second-floor experts in four months.

Although Hypersensitivity Potions were incredibly valuable, S-rank Nutrient Fluids that could be used to repair and replenish the energy of a person’s body were much more important to him right now. He also had no reliable way of obtaining S-rank Nutrient Fluids right now. So, it was definitely worthwhile to trade Hypersensitivity Potions for S-rank Nutrient Fluids.

After Aqua Rose pondered in silence for some time, she looked toward Shi Feng and said, “Okay, Twilight Echo accepts this offer. However, I cannot represent the Secret Pavilion on this matter. I can only help relay your offer to them.”

The transaction Shi Feng proposed was very favorable for Twilight Echo. Although she didn’t know why Shi Feng was so confident, if he could nurture a batch of peak experts in four months, it would definitely be of significant help to Twilight Echo.

“That is only natural.” Shi Feng nodded.

Afterward, Shi Feng and Aqua Rose signed a contract to seal the deal. According to the contract, Twilight Echo would be sending 60 of its peak geniuses to Shi Feng to undergo four months of training. Twilight Echo would first pay a deposit of 100 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluids, with the remaining 200 bottles to be paid after Shi Feng had fulfilled his part of the contract. If Shi Feng failed to fulfill his promise, he would hand over the complete version of his training method to Twilight Echo.

Of course, the contract also required Twilight Echo’s peak geniuses to follow all of Shi Feng’s instructions. If anyone refused to comply, it would be considered Twilight Echo’s problem, and the deposit for their training would be forfeited.

...

After Shi Feng concluded his discussion with Aqua Rose, he did not rush to make any arrangements. Instead, he had Blackie compile a report of recent events in Zero Wing and Asura. Then, he read Blackie’s report while undergoing super-physical training in the God’s Domain Association to solidify his mental standards.

“What a bunch of lunatics.” Shi Feng couldn’t help but frown a little when he finished reading Blackie’s report.