Chapter 512 – Hidden Advanced Function

Crystal City of Secrets, Secret Crystal Trading Firm:

“What’s going on? Why did I get teleported outside?”

“Look at the trading firm! The whole building’s sealed off!”

“What’s the trading firm’s owner trying to do? Why did they drive everyone out of the building? How are solo players like us supposed to make money now?”

!!

After getting forcibly teleported out of the Secret Crystal Trading Firm, many solo players were quickly pushed to the brink of insanity when they saw the trading firm that was now enveloped in a black magic barrier.

Unlike players operating in teams, solo players had a much more difficult time making money in the Eternal Realm. The increasing number of Holy Race players operating out in the fields only served to make the situation worse. Now, most material collection quests had become so dangerous that most solo players would steer clear of them.

For solo players operating in the Crystal City of Secrets, the Secret Crystal Trading Firm was one of the few channels which they could earn money through. Yet, now, they could no longer enter the trading firm. This was a terrible development as it would no longer affect their income but also delay their entry into the Underground Crystal Palace. If they couldn’t quickly find an equally good source of income, the gap between them and players operating in teams would grow even bigger.

However, before the players on the street could further their discussions, all players operating within the Crystal City of Secrets region received a system announcement.

…

Regional System Announcement: The Secret Crystal Trading Firm has been upgraded to an Advanced Trading Firm. It is expected to reopen in one hour.

…

The system announcement repeated three times, stunning the noisy solo players on the street into silence. All of them couldn’t help but look at the system announcement again and again, wondering if they had misread it.

“Madness! This is madness!”

“It got upgraded into an Advanced Trading Firm, just like that?”

“Damn! Who’s the one who bought the Secret Crystal Trading Firm? None of the powers operating in the city even have an Advanced Shop!”

Following the system announcement, even players who had never bothered to visit the trading firm to pick up commissions started to get excited, a flame of passion burning in their eyes.

Trading firms could be found all over the Greater God’s Domain, so anyone who had spent some time playing God’s Domain would know about them. Naturally, they also knew how significant of a difference there existed between a Basic and Advanced Trading Firm.

For expert players and the various powers, the existence of Basic Trading Firms was basically negligible. Unless they could secure a commission made by an NPC noble with 100% certainty, they would not bother visiting Basic Trading Firms.

Even in the Eternal Realm the various powers’ teams would only ever bother taking on commissions issued by NPC nobles. As for other commissions, only ordinary teams and solo players would bother with them. Hence, the popularity of Basic Trading Firms remained largely the same.

However, it was a different story for an Advanced Trading Firm. There would be many NPC nobles issuing commissions at an Advanced Trading Firm every few hours, which was a stark contrast to Basic Trading Firms, which would only receive several dozen per day. Hence, even solo players would have a chance at securing an NPC noble’s commission from an Advanced Trading Firm.

In addition, there was also a chance for elite commissions made by great nobles to appear at an Advanced Trading Firm. If players could complete an elite commission, the amount of City Reputation Points they could receive from it would be several times that of an ordinary noble’s commission.

…

Underground Crystal City’s entrance plaza:

At this time, the crowd gathered at the plaza could be seen voluntarily stepping aside and opening a path for a 20-man team that had just exited the Underground Crystal Palace.

The leader of this team was a young red-haired female Elementalist. This Elementalist not only carried a Legendary Staff, but she was also equipped with two pieces of Legendary Equipment, specifically a set of cloth armor and a hat. Upon closer inspection, one could also see Secret Treasures attached to these two pieces of equipment.

However, despite many expert players salivating at the Elementalist’s Secret Treasures, none dared to have any thoughts about them.

This was because even the weakest member of this 20-man team was a fifth-floor expert. The team’s several elderly folk were even well-known Saint-ranked experts in the Greater God’s Domain.

“Should we go and check out that trading firm, Miss Billow?” a tall young man carrying a shield whispered to the female Elementalist after seeing the system announcement.

“Not necessary,” The Elementalist going by the name of Billowing Water[1] indifferently said as she focused her gaze on a distant Guild Residence. “A couple of noble commissions won’t make us much money. Rather than waste our time running between places, we should prioritize recruiting more experts into our Guild and organize the information we collected from the Underground Crystal Palace. If we can have more teams enter the Underground Crystal Palace, we’ll be able to gather more Secret Treasures. Once our main force is fully geared, earning money will no longer be a problem!”

“Understood!” The tall young man nodded in agreement.

Aside from Billowing Water’s team, the various powers operating in the Crystal City similarly did not bother sending their members to the Secret Crystal Trading Firm. All of them decided it was more important to focus their efforts on the Underground Crystal Palace than completing a couple of noble commissions.

…

Meanwhile, over at the Secret Crystal Trading Firm…

The trading firm enveloped by a pitch-black magic barrier had undergone great changes. The originally old and dilapidated building had become an exquisite construction with ten floors.

The first two floors were open to everyone, and anyone could accept commissions from there. However, access to the third floor and onwards was limited to members only. Specifically, the third, fourth, and seventh floors were only open to basic members and above, while the fifth, sixth, and eighth floors were open to advanced members only. As for the ninth floor and above, they were off-limits to even advanced members, and only those with permission from the trading firm’s owner could enter.

What luck! Shi Feng was secretly overjoyed when he saw the features available on the trading firm’s seventh floor and above. I didn’t think I would get the Secret Treasure Market!

Once a trading firm reached the advanced rank, a membership system would be introduced with three ranks: non-members, basic members, and advanced members. Whichever rank players received would depend on how much money they were willing to pay.

Non-members didn’t need to pay any fees, but basic and advanced members needed to pay a weekly membership fee. This was because basic and advanced membership slots were limited. In the case of a One-star Advanced Trading Firm, it would only have 5,000 basic membership slots and 1,000 advanced membership slots. As for how much players needed to pay for each type of membership, it was entirely up to the trading firm’s owner to decide.

Meanwhile, regardless of whether players became a member, it wouldn’t affect their ability to accept commissions at the trading firm. The only difference separating members and non-members was the ability to enjoy the hidden advanced functions a trading firm would gain once it reached the advanced rank.

There were various advanced functions an Advanced Trading Firm could potentially obtain, with some being good and some being better. In the case of the Eternal Realm’s trading firms, there were two advanced functions regarded as the best, and one of them was the Secret Treasure Market.

Normally, unless one could obtain a Three-star Heroic Mark and use it to unlock all of an Advanced Trading Firm’s functions, one would otherwise have to rely on luck to get the advanced functions they wanted. So, Shi Feng felt like he had hit the jackpot when he saw that the One-star Heroic Mark he used had gained him the Secret Treasure Market.

Meanwhile, as its name suggested, the Secret Treasure Market was a place where the city’s NPC great nobles would periodically sell some Secret Treasures.

The Secret Treasure Market was divided into three levels: Common, Combat, and Extraordinary. The three levels corresponded to the first three ranks of Secret Treasures, and they indicated the highest possible rank of Secret Treasures that could appear on them.

As for the Fantasy-rank Secret Treasures, they were exceedingly rare even for the Eternal Realm’s NPCs, so no NPC would sell them.

Of the Secret Treasure Market’s three levels, the Common level was situated on the seventh floor and open to basic members and above, the Combat level was situated on the eighth floor and open to advanced members only, and the Extraordinary level was situated on the ninth floor and opened only to players with advanced membership and permission from the trading firm’s owner.

…

System: The Secret Crystal Trading Firm has been successfully upgraded to an Advanced Trading Firm. Do you wish to reopen it now?

…

TL Notes:

[1]Billowing Water:

Her name in real life is Weilan, and she is Yan Hua’s daughter.

Seeing as Xia Qingying refers to Yan Hua as “Uncle Yan,” I assume that “Yan” is “Yan Hua’s” surname. So, Weilan’s full name should be “Yan Weilan.”