Chapter 2175 – Times Have Changed

Black Dragon Empire, Black Dragon City:

Many players explored the city’s prosperous central district. A 60-meter-tall Guild Hall, one of the most iconic buildings within the district, sat in its core. This was the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion’s status symbol in the Black Dragon Empire.

More than 10,000 players came and went from the Guild Hall, many there to apply for the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion’s recruitment test. Even the weakest of these players was Level 64 and wore a full set of Level 60 Secret-Silver Equipment. Level 65 experts had even shown up, fully geared in Level 65 Secret-Silver Equipment.

When such experts normally applied to first-rate Guilds, they were accepted and promoted to core member immediately, but in the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion, even these players would be lucky to join the Guild. Even if they were accepted, they’d become, at most, elite members.

However, unlike the lively scene outside the Guild Hall, a deathly silence enveloped the Guild Leader’s office on the top floor.

“Damn it! Zero Wing has its own Chamber of Commerce now! Not even Starlink will be able to affect its financial foundation!” Nine Dragons Emperor, who was now Level 68, paled as he read the latest report.

His competition with Phoenix Rain for the Great Pavilion Master position was almost at its climax, and he certainly hadn’t expected something like this to happen.

He had still hoped to use Zero Wing against Phoenix Rain. After all, she wouldn’t sit by and do nothing if her pet Guild was in danger. She would send a portion of her strength to support Zero Wing. However, not only had Zero Wing grown stronger, but Phoenix Rain would significantly benefit from this as well.

Nine Dragons Emperor knew that she was one of the Candlelight Trading Firm’s shareholders.

Now that Zero Wing had a Chamber of Commerce with more than 100 Guilds, albeit small ones, it had even more sales connections than ordinary superpowers. With how many Master Lifestyle players the firm had as well, it was easy to imagine how much profit Candlelight would generate in the future.

“Pavilion Master, our sides are currently fervently collecting funds to build Shipyards and buy Lands on Dragonheart Island. If Phoenix Rain’s side receives a cut of Candlelight’s profits, I’m afraid we’ll be in a precarious position,” Martial Dragon said solemnly.

“I know that. I truly hadn’t expected an ant like Zero Wing to develop to this extent.” Nine Dragons Emperor frowned again at the report regarding Zero Wing, overwhelmed with regret. Had he known that Zero Wing could become so powerful, he would’ve done everything in his power to crush the Guild in its infancy.

Those small Guilds have just signed a contract with the Candlelight Chamber of Commerce; they haven’t actually begun to work with Zero Wing yet. Why don’t we take a forceful approach and show these small Guilds the consequences of allying with Zero Wing?” Martial Dragon suggested, a cold light glinting in his eyes as he clenched a fist.

“It’s too late for that. Even if we kill these small Guilds’ main forces, they’ll send their main force members to the Bottomless Abyss to level. Not even Starlink’s influence can reach the Regional Dungeon, much less ours. And killing their normal and elite members won’t harm these Guilds in the least,” Nine Dragons Emperor said, shaking his head.

Unlike like Guilds, small Guilds didn’t offer their members many guarantees, especially their normal and elite members. Small Guilds barely paid these members any mind, only providing a few Guild benefits. These Guilds didn’t even offer significant compensation if its members died.

As long as a small Guild could ensure its main force and core members’ survival, it could continue its existence. Of course, the opposite was also true. Due to this reason, the challenge these small Guilds presented depended on the situation.

Now that Zero Wing could offer these Guilds’ main forces and core members a safe haven, eliminating them would be quite difficult for the Heavenly Dragon Pavilions.

A battle of finances was the only reliable way the Pavilion could deal with these small Guilds now, but doing so would be expensive, and the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion couldn’t afford the expenditure right now.

“There really isn’t anything we can do about this?” Martial Dragon asked.

“There is only so much profit to go around in God’s Domain. Now that they’ve established such a powerful Chamber of Commerce, the others won’t be able to remain idle. Moreover, Starlink won’t stand for this. This matter will certainly affect Starlink’s development in the Dark Night Empire,” Nine Dragons Emperor said, sneering. “Starlink has always been so arrogant and unwilling to negotiate an alliance. Martial, quietly visit Dark Night City and negotiate our terms with Lu Xingluo. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I’m sure Starlink will fund us now.”

Starlink was well-known for its wealth in God’s Domain. At the moment, Nine Dragons Emperor’s chances of defeating Phoenix Rain were only 40%, but if he had Starlink’s help, he was certain his chances of becoming the next Great Pavilion Master would double.

“You’re truly awe-inspiring, Pavilion Master. With this, we’ll be able to turn the tables. If Phoenix Rain and Black Flame knew what we were planning, they’d likely go mad,” Martial Dragon said, smiling. “I’ll head to Dark Night City right away.”

Following which, Martial Dragon left the office and made his way toward Dark Night City.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng had finally completed his tasks in Stone Forest City. All he needed to do now was to leave the city in Melancholic Smile’s hands and wait for the influx of players.

He didn’t remain idle after dealing with the city’s construction. He made his way to one of the Candlelight Trading Firm’s forging rooms and started to forge Crystal Light Sets and Advanced Mana Armor Kits.

Zero Wing and the various Guilds needed both the Crystal Light Sets and Advanced Mana Armor Kits desperately, but the Set Equipment was too difficult to mass-produce. Only Shi Feng was able to forge the sets at a reliable cost. If he tasked Cream Cocoa and the other Basic Master Forgers to produce the set, he wouldn’t even recoup his production costs, much less make a profit.

Shi Feng spent more than four days in the forging room and forged 26 Crystal Light Sets and over 1,300 Advanced Mana Amor Kits. Not only had he earned a ton of Forging Proficiency during the past few days, but he had also gained enough EXP to hit Level 77.

Meanwhile, Stone Forest City’s player population had skyrocketed, crossing the 3,000,000 threshold already. After deducting the city’s operational costs, Zero Wing had made over 100,000 Gold in pure profit from Stone Forest City alone. Stone Forest City’s income surpassed that of Zero Wing City and Silverwing Town by multiple times. Not only could Zero Wing afford to pay off all of its debt, but it could also set aside a fortune in savings.

However, what had Shi Feng truly ecstatic was the leveling speed of his Guild’s core members.

Maybe it was because the Bottomless Abyss was a God Mode Regional Dungeon, but over the past four days, most of Zero Wing’s core members had reached Level 68. Some had even risen to Level 70. Even superpowers’ peak experts were just reaching this level by now.

The core members’ combat standards had rapidly improved as well, thanks to the complete Refinement Realm Legacy Shining Tiger had provided. Although Fierce Snake was the only one of them to reach the Refinement Realm thus far, more than a dozen core members had reached the Half-step Refinement Realm. Their development speed was simply marvelous.

While Shi Feng instructed Zero Wing’s internal members in the Guild’s real-world headquarters, Liang Jing approached him with an anxious expression.

“Head Instructor Shi, the Big Dipper Dojo has contacted us to inform us that it will cease all cooperation with our Workshop and will no longer supply talented recruits. It has also instructed its members to leave Zero Wing...”