Chapter 500 - Exclusive Control

White River City, Overwhelming Smile’s Guild Residence:

“Vice-Leader Youlan, I’ve finished my investigation of the Candlelight Trading Firm,” a Level 23 male Assassin reported upon entering Overwhelming Smile’s meeting room.

“Who started it?” Youlan asked in a hurry.

Currently, Overwhelming Smile suffered in the field battles against Zero wing. Their daily Coin expenditures were also quite significant.

Although Underworld had increased their investment in Overwhelming Smile, funds in particular, it was truly not easy to convert Credits into Coins. Despite spending a massive amount to purchase Coins, the Guild’s supply barely maintained balance with its consumption.

In the beginning, Youlan had not expected that repairing equipment would cost so much.

However, her thoughts changed as the Guild’s death toll continued to increase. Dying once might not cost much, but after two or three deaths, the Guild members had spent practically all of their remaining Coins. Afterward, in order to repair their equipment, these Guild members had no choice but to choose Coins as compensation.

This situation had immediately given Youlan, who had initially been quite confident, a huge headache. She wished she could choke Black Flame to death.

They had already paid out more than 1,000 Gold as compensation, not to mention the amount of Credits they had compensated.

Moreover, it wouldn’t be long before the Guild had to pay compensation solely in Coins. After all, if players did not repair their equipment, they could not go out and level up. If their equipment became scrap, they would have to purchase new equipment to serve as a replacement. However, good equipment was not easy to obtain. Every piece of a player’s equipment had been earned through blood and sweat; losing even a single piece was a painful loss. If they lost every piece of equipment they had on them...

Hence, before the Durability of their equipment reached a critical point, even if players had to purchase Coins with Credits, spending their entire fortune, they had to repair their equipment.

However, there was one point that confused Youlan greatly. Though Overwhelming Smile’s losses were very heavy, Zero Wing’s losses should not be any less. Not to mention, Zero Wing was not using Credits as a form of compensation at all. Its consumption of Gold should be significantly higher than theirs. Yet, even until now, not only had Zero Wing showed no signs of lacking money, but it was also spending more money than before.

It was inconceivable!

From the information Youlan had overheard, she knew that, aside from constructing the best Smithy available, Zero Wing had also purchased several sets of Dragonscale Set Equipment. At the very least, they would have to spend more than 2,000 Gold on these purchases. Not to mention, there was also the Gold they had to give out as compensation for the war of attrition.

Even Underworld would find it difficult to spend so much in such a short time.

Youlan could only see one end, Overwhelming Smile withdrawing from White River City, if things continued like this in their war of attrition. Hence, they needed to make a major change now. They must find a way to earn a large sum of Gold.

If one wanted to earn a large sum of Coins in God’s Domain, the only way to do so was through trade.

Although the Guild Quests published in the Guild Residence were a large source of income, that potential was nothing compared to the money one could earn through trade.

Although the various large Guilds of God’s Domain possessed a lot of Gold, compared to the countless players in God’s Domain, this sum was insignificant. Even if Overwhelming Smile only earned 1 Silver from each of the millions of players in White River City, the total would be several tens of thousands of Gold.

At that time, they could easily afford a war with several other large Guilds simultaneously, much less afford to deal with a single Zero Wing.

In White River City, the most powerful trading firm was currently the Starstreak Trading Firm. Not only did the Firm occupy a strategic location, but it also possessed Land in the seven cities surrounding White River City, allowing it to sell items to players in eight cities and earn tons of Gold daily. The amount the Firm earned each day was enough to make one drool.

Unfortunately, the Starstreak Trading Firm was an NPC’s property, not a player’s. Despite exhausting all of their means, the various large Guilds in White River City were unable to form a cooperative relationship with the Starstreak Trading Firm. In the end, they could only give up on their endeavors and try to open up their own Shops.

However, White River City’s ordinary Lands were not particularly valuable. Currently, the various Guilds had all set their sights on the golden Lands of the city and were consistently accumulating money and raising their Reputation to achieve that goal.

Now, however, the Candlelight Trading Firm had appeared and purchased two golden Lands ahead of the other Guilds. Although the Candlelight Trading Firm was not a match for the Starstreak Trading Firm, with the Basic Strengthened Armor Kits and the full range of products, it, too, stood among White River City’s top trading firms. Over time, if the Candlelight Trading Firm introduced several other items that players direly needed, it would definitely surpass the Starstreak Trading Firm and become the number one trading firm in White River City.

Moreover, unlike the Starstreak Trading Firm, a player had established and owned the Candlelight Trading Firm. That signified the possibility of cooperation.

Thus, Youlan had sent her subordinate to investigate the firm.

“I heard that the manager there is a young woman named Melancholic Smile. Moreover, she is a forger, and was once a forger employed by the Starstreak Trading Firm,” the male Assassin said slowly. “In addition, aside from that woman, two other Starstreak forgers seemed to have defected to Candlelight as well. The three of them produced the Basic Strengthening Armor Kits.”

“Good, you’ve done well.” Youlan smiled. “Melancholic Smile. This is my first time hearing this name. There really are a lot of capable people in White River City. It seems that I’ll need to make a personal visit to the Candlelight Trading Firm to have a chat.”

Overwhelming Smile wasn’t the only Guild with such thoughts. Several other large Guilds also began to eye the Candlelight Trading Firm.

Such a thriving trading firm was no different from a large gold mine that could provide their Guilds with various resources. If they could obtain the trading firm, they could instantly raise their Guild’s strength by leaps and bounds.

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Meanwhile, Shi Feng once again had over 10,000 Gold in his pockets, and he began to reconsider the plots of Land in Star-Moon City again.

Currently, as the Underground Arena was not particularly popular, the Candlelight Trading Firm’s business there was only passable. Attracting the attention of Star-Moon City’s players would be far easier if he set up a Shop in the city’s central district.

Unfortunately, as Lifeless Blade was only an ordinary noble in Star-Moon City, he could only purchase ordinary Land; he did not qualify to purchase the Lands in the central district and golden areas of Star-Moon City.

I need to think of a better way to raise my Reputation! Shi Feng tried to recall information relating to Star-Moon City’s resources.

After he pondered for some time, Shi Feng’s eyes suddenly shone. Immediately, he hailed a horse carriage and hurried to the Palace.

Star-Moon City was Star-Moon Kingdom’s core, so it was not easy to raise one’s Reputation here. If players relied on Reputation Quests, it would take them ages before they could become a Baron of Star-Moon City.

For this reason, many players had given up on the notion of doing business in Star-Moon City and had shifted their aim towards other cities instead.

However, there were many players in Star-Moon City. There was bound to be a few amazing characters amongst the millions of players. In the past, there were several independent players who had taken the lead and managed to become Barons, even Viscounts, before the various large Guilds. In the end, these independent players had claimed a few good Lands for themselves, taking the opportunity to make a fortune. The monthly rental they received was enough to allow them to live in luxury for the rest of their days.

Despite being independent players, these few individuals were not ordinary characters; they were not penniless individuals. Instead, they were relatively wealthy individuals. They had been relatively famous in several other virtual reality games and had earned large sums of money during their time playing those games.

Meanwhile, through a special method, these people had managed to grind large amounts of Reputation Points in a relatively short amount of time, quickly becoming Barons. After this incident was revealed, these players had become the envy of every player in Star-Moon City.

That method was very simple. Players needed to purchase some supplies with Coins, then contribute these supplies to a certain Grand Duke to receive Reputation Points for Star-Moon City. Unfortunately, the conversion ratio of Coins to Reputation Points would make any ordinary player curse the system.

However, Shi Feng did not lack money right now; he only lacked time. Even if it were a more expensive method, he would still employ it.