Chapter 1967 – Candlelight Expands Star-Moon Kingdom, Zero Wing City:

In a seven-story, high-class restaurant a short distance away from Zero Wing’s Residence, three cloaked players observed the Residence from a private room.

“Commander Cloud, the result of Miracle and Zero Wing’s war is out. Here is all of the information we purchased from the Secret Pavilion regarding Zero Wing,” a male Half-elf said as he handed the male Tigerkin before him a file. “The war in the Black Dragon Empire ended when Miracle retreated from the empire and announced its withdrawal from the war.”

“What? Miracle was defeated?” Chopped Axe, the female Tigerkin beside the male Tigerkin, was slightly stunned. “How is that possible? That’s Miracle we’re talking about. The Guild is even stronger than it had been at its peak. How could it possibly lose?”

As a member of the famous Death God Workshop, she was quite familiar with the various superpowers, especially their territories and overall strength.

Miracle, in particular, was one of the superpowers the Death God Workshop watched closely.

Not only had Miracle recently expanded its influence in God’s Domain, but it had also recruited plenty of well-known experts in the virtual gaming world. The Witch of the West, Alice, was one of the best examples. Recruiting Alice had significantly boosted the Guild’s overall strength, and not long ago, Miracle had secured a key resource point on the western continent. It only lacked a suitable opportunity to earn the public’s recognition as a Super Guild.

If Miracle were granted the title of Super Guild, it would rank in the top half in terms of power. Miracle had a boundless future ahead of itself.

Hence, Chopped Axe couldn’t believe that Zero Wing had actually defeated Miracle.

“Miracle has indeed lost. Everyone in the Black Dragon Empire is talking about it,” the male Half-elf, Frost Rain, confirmed. “Miracle retreated because Zero Wing had dispatched 200 experts with combat power on par with peak experts, which caught Miracle completely off guard. Once Miracle realized that a protracted war would be a waste of time and resources, it decided to give up and return home.”

“Two hundred experts with combat power that rivals peak experts?! This can’t be true, can it?!” Chopped Axe instinctively refused to believe Frost Rain’s claim.

Even an ordinary super-first-rate Guild only had that many experts, including Domain Realm experts and true peak experts.

“It’s true,” Light Cloud, the male Tigerkin, said suddenly. “According to the Secret Pavilion’s report, Zero Wing has only accomplished this feat because it has used a tool called the Basic Combat Device. However, the Basic Combat Device has a relatively short duration. In addition, Zero Wing has the frightening Magicbreaking Crossbow. When a dozen or so of these crossbows are fired together, they can even instant-kill a Tier 2 Refinement Realm expert. If Zero Wing amasses a sufficient stock of these crossbows, its members will even be able to instant-kill peak experts.”

“So, that’s the case. I knew a new Guild like Zero Wing couldn’t be that strong.” Chopped Axe could not help but wipe the sweat from her forehead.

If Zero Wing truly had so many powerful expert players, it could easily deal with the Death God Workshop. All it would need was some time and resources. The various superpowers were inclined to overlook the Workshop’s activities for this very reason.

“Even if these tools have a time limit, they still pose a great threat,” Light Cloud said as he rolled his eyes at Chopped Axe. “Alright, we can return and report to the Chief Commander now. We’ll let the Chief Commander decide how to deal with Zero Wing in the Fairy Country.”

After saying so, Light Cloud took a Return Scroll from his bag. He had no intention of wasting any more time in Zero Wing City. Frost Rain and Chopped Axe nodded in agreement. They had never expected Ninth Heaven to secure such a powerful backer.

Meanwhile, the first thing Shi Feng did after returning to Zero Wing City was store the rare materials he had obtained in the Black Dragon Empire in Candlelight’s warehouse. He then had Melancholic Smile ramp up Candlelight’s recruitment for Lifestyle players and expand the firm’s operations.

Although the Candlelight Trading Firm was developing nicely, it could only afford to nurture a limited number of Lifestyle players due to the lack of materials. As a result, Candlelight was restricted when recruiting Lifestyle players.

Fortunately, Zero Wing had secured 490,000 Gold in rare materials through the war in the Black Dragon Empire. With so many materials, Candlelight could easily afford to recruit several thousand more members. Moreover, if Candlelight wished to develop in the Black Dragon Empire and Fairy Country, it would need a lot of additional manpower.

As long as Candlelight established a foothold in these two countries, the trading firm’s income would double at the very minimum. After all, both the Black Dragon Empire and the Fairy Country had far higher player populations than Star-Moon Kingdom. Naturally, the demand for items in these countries would also be higher. Even if Candlelight did not become the number one trading firm in those countries, it would still earn a sizable income.

As for Candlelight’s competitive edge, Shi Feng wasn’t worried about that.

Due to the Philosopher’s Hand, Candlelight had gained an additional five Master Lifestyle players despite the fact that Melancholic Smile had kept the item’s usage to a minimum to keep it a secret. Among the five Master Lifestyle players nurtured, two were Master Alchemists, two were Master Forgers, and one was a Master Engineer. To Shi Feng’s surprise,

Silent Wonder had successfully created an Advanced Alchemy Recipe as well, thanks to the assistance of Titan City and the Philosopher’s Hand. Now, Silent Wonder only needed to create one more Advanced Alchemy Recipe to become an Intermediate Master Alchemist!

An Intermediate Master Alchemist was no less important than an Intermediate Master Forger. In fact, an Intermediate Master Alchemist played an even greater role in raiding Team Dungeons. Unlike Basic Master Alchemists, Intermediate Master Alchemists could craft Master Potions with a feasible success rate.

If a team had a full stock of Master ranked defensive or resistance potions, the raid would become much easier.

“Guild Leader, the auction for the virtual stores has concluded. Not a single corporation is willing to rent our stores. In contrast, the virtual stores in the two Guild Tows are selling like hotcakes...” Melancholic Smile said, visibly worried.

“Although we’ve earned some Credits through selling the weapons and equipment you gave me earlier, it’s only enough to maintain the training ground for a short time.”

“Nobody is willing to rent?” Shi Feng was slightly surprised as he examined the information on the nearby Guild Towns Melancholic Smile had given him. “These towns have certainly developed quickly. They’ve already ensnared over 40 corporations? At this rate, won’t they become Intermediate Towns in less than ten days?”

The Guild Towns’ development had exceeded Shi Feng’s expectations. Both had already invested in enough defensive structures to rival an Intermediate Town. Even more surprising was both towns’ defensive magic arrays, protecting the towns from monster assaults. These defensive magic arrays were the reason that the various corporations were so confident in investing in the towns.

“Guild Leader, you’re still in the mood to joke around? Now that we’ve moved to the new training ground, our daily expenditure has gone through the roof. With the Credits we currently have, we’ll only last another five or six days,” Melancholic Smile said, exasperated.

She had already seen Liang Jing’s financial report, and she had been horrified. The number of Credits the Guild spent each day was absurd.

“We’re burning through that much money?” Even Shi Feng was surprised when he saw the daily costs. He hadn’t realized that Ouroboros had spent such a frightening amount of Credits each day to maintain its training ground. The operational cost of Zero Wing’s training ground could already rival that of Shadow in the past And this was only the beginning. As Zero Wing recruited more internal members, the costs would increase. However, Shi Feng revealed a faint smile after a moment and said, “Let’s see who can outlast who, then.”

Shi Feng instructed Melancholic Smile to sell some of the crafted Level 50 Bronze and Mysterious Iron Equipment for Credits. The Credits from these sales should help the Guild survive for a while longer.

Although Primordial Gas slowly spread throughout the Witch’s Hill, increasing the local monsters’ strength and weakening players’ combat power, monsters still needed time to evolve.

After Shi Feng settled his affairs with the Candlelight Trading Firm, he used the Seven Luminaries Ring to teleport to the Million Forest’s teleportation array. He then spent one Magic Crystal to teleport to the Otherworld Gate.

The Jealous Witch appeared not long after Shi Feng had arrived. She quietly hovered in the air while looking down on Shi Feng.

“Young adventurer, why have you returned so soon?” the Jealous Witch demanded.

“Lady Witch, I have completed the task you gave me. Here are the 200,000 Magic Crystals you asked for,” Shi Feng said as he removed 200,000 Magic Crystals from his bag, instantly forming a small mountain before him.

Once all 200,000 Magic Crystals were accounted for, the Jealous Witch waved her hand lightly, and every crystal vanished into thin air. At the same time, the gigantic Otherworld Gate released a dazzling glow. Primordial Gas surged out.

Then, a series of system notifications reached his ears.