Chapter 2183 – Private House’s Hidden Effect

Bottomless Abyss, Stone Forest City:

As the auctions ended, the players that had won their bids made their way to their new properties. However, these experts were stunned after teleporting to their private houses.

“How is this possible?!”

Everyone was astonished to find a new buff icon in their status window.

High Mana State!

While this buff was in effect, players would receive another buff that increased their maximum Stamina and Concentration by 20% for 12 hours after resting for 8 hours in their private houses. If players rested for 12 hours, the buffs duration would increase to 18 hours.

These experts were ecstatic over the new discovery.

In the Bottomless Abyss, Stamina and Concentration consumption rates were a player’s biggest weakness. They could only grind in the God Mode Regional Dungeon if they found a way to maintain these stats. Now, they discovered that they could have 20% more Stamina and Concentration by simply resting for some time in their private houses. This would greatly extend their activity time and boost their leveling speed.

The visiting expert players wasted no time in reporting this to their respective superiors.

“What’s going on? Players can only accumulate the Double EXP buff in Stone Forest City’s hotels, but they can gain more Stamina and Concentration by relaxing in a private house?”

“Doesn’t that mean players with private houses will level 20% faster than players who don’t have one?”

“If that’s the case, we have to get more private houses tomorrow!”

For a time, the various powers received notifications regarding the private houses’ hidden effect, re-evaluating their previous opinions.

The various powers had only viewed Stone Forest City’s private houses as a convenient travel tool, but now that they had learned that these houses could increase players’ Stamina and Concentration, they had taken on a whole new meaning. If they could secure 20 private houses and send an entire team to take advantage of this buff, the team’s leveling speed would be far faster than a mere 20% boost allowed.

The combat power an individual could exhibit was on a different level than fighting with a team. Moreover, players would drastically reduce their Stamina and Concentration consumption rates by fighting alongside teammates.

If an entire team had a 20% maximum Stamina and Concentration buff, they’d be able to last in the Bottomless Abyss for more than 30% longer than teams without the buff. With so much more time, the team could explore more of the Dungeon, reducing the number of competitors it would face.

Much of the Bottomless Abyss’s first floor was home to Dark Demonkin, as well.

These Dark Demonkin looked similar to humans, but unlike humans, magic circuits covered these Demonkin’s entire bodies. They also bore a third eye on their foreheads, and they had an affinity for Mana that rivaled the Elves.

Factoring in the Bottomless Abyss’s environment, a random Level 65, Chieftain ranked Dark Demonkin could effortlessly defeat ordinary expert players. If an expert party encountered a Lord ranked Dark Demonkin, the party would lose half of its members before it killed the monster if it didn’t react appropriately.

To make matters worse, Dark Demonkin were very difficult to sense unless players spotted them. They were skilled with ambush tactics and hid their auras with magic. When exploring the Bottomless Abyss, players had to remain on high-alert, which substantially increased their Stamina and Concentration consumption rates. Unfortunately, players had no other choice as even Refinement Realm experts would die if they weren’t careful.

This situation instilled a deep fear for the various powers’ teams, making them hesitant to venture too far into the first floor. They constantly worried that they wouldn’t have enough Stamina and Concentration for the return trip, and if that happened, they’d likely die and lose several days of effort. Thus, the various powers’ expert teams had remained in the first-floor’s outer region so far.

However, if an entire team had the buff Stone Forest City’s private houses provided, they could easily venture farther into the first floor.

God’s Domain’s powers immediately began to collect their funds. They also sent more people to the Candlelight Trading Firm’s Shops, those that would participate in the auction, to increase their chances of winning more bids.

For a time, Candlelight’s Shops were packed with players. The Shops in Stone Forest City, Zero Wing City, White River City, and Dark Night City, in particular, held massive crowds. The crowds were so large that players were nearly forced to wait outside. Passing players, who had hoped to visit the Shops, were stupefied.

“What’s going on? Why have so many Guilds gathered here?”

“That’s right! There weren’t this many people during the last auction for Stone Forest City’s private houses!”

Peaking in from the doorways, players spotted representatives from more than 100 Guilds in Candlelight’s Shops. Although most were from small Guilds, there were quite a few players form first- and second-rate Guilds.

While everyone wondered why so many powers had flooded the Candlelight Trading Firms, the firm began the second auction for Stone Forest City’s private houses.

Due to the increased number of participants, Candlelight had employed entry restrictions. Now, players had to hold more than 500,000 Credits to participate. This change elicited curses from the various independent players. Some even criticized Zero Wing for being full of itself, claiming that the Guild would never sell so many houses for such high prices.

However, when the auction began and news spread, everyone was forced into silence.

Unexpectedly, every bid on the second day opened at 2,000,000 Credits, and all of the participating Guilds fought to outbid each other. Most of the adventurer teams taking part hadn’t even gotten a chance to call out a bid before they had been disqualified from the auction. Only top adventurer teams barely held on.

By the time players had claimed the second day’s 1,000 units, the income from a single private house had hit a new record at 2,360,000 Credits, far more than the 500,000 Credits on the previous day. For a time, every player in God’s Domain was shaken.

“Insane! These Guilds have gone insane!”

The independent players that had hoped to compete stared at the price incredulously. Did they really need to spend so much on a private house?

However, the record broke once again on the third day, with the highest bid closing at 2,570,000 Credits. Seeing this, Tian Tong began to despair.

On the fourth day, the highest closing bid reached 2,71〇,〇〇〇 Credits, and on the fifth, it hit 2,820,000 Credits. By this point, the various adventurer teams were little more than decoration in the auction venues. Only the various Guilds could afford to compete.

Aqua Rose and Gentle Snow were astonished. They had never dreamed that Stone Forest City’s private houses would be so lucrative.

By the time the sixth day’s auction had ended, and players had claimed all 7,000 private houses, Zero Wing had accumulated 13.7 billion Credits. To hold that kind of money, a first-rate Guild would need investments from multiple financial groups and corporations.

However, Shi Feng knew that he would only earn this much money once. As players reached higher levels and gained better equipment, they wouldn’t need to depend on private houses nearly as much as they did now. Moreover, now that the various powers had seen how much potential wealth there was to gain, they would do everything in their power to establish Guild Towns in the Bottomless Abyss. Once they did, these private houses would only go for between 30,000 and 50,000 Credits. This was Shi Feng’s only chance to make such a fortune.

Meanwhile, Zero Wing had rapidly developed during the past six days. Almost all of the Guild’s expert players had reached Level 70, and it now had 43 Refinement Realm experts in its midst. Since Shi Feng had sent Fire Dance to train in Unyielding Soul’s system, which didn’t limit her options, she had broken through to the Flowing Water Realm.

Because Aqua Rose and Gentle Snow had been bogged down with the Guild’s affairs, they hadn’t been able to devote themselves to their training fully. Hence, they were shy of reaching the Flowing Water Realm, but it was only a matter of time before they crossed the threshold as well.

Unfortunately, Zero Wing’s recent development had brought a lot of issues to the surface.

Due to the sudden loss of so many internal members, the Guild wasn’t able to raid as many Dungeons or complete as many field operations as before. As a result, the gap between the Guild’s upper and lower hierarchies grew. If this persisted, Zero Wing’s development would start to stagnate.

It’s about time that I set up that training center. Inspecting the Guild’s current funds, Shi Feng decided that he couldn’t set the matter aside any longer.

God’s Domain’s various large Guilds in the past had either had access to their own training centers or partnered with already established centers. Not only had this provided fresh blood, but it had also earned these Guilds a stable income. Only the Guilds with strong support from training centers or dojos had had a chance of becoming overlords in the game. Without that support, stronger competitors had stifled their development.