Chapter 25: Vice-Guild Leader acquired (2)
Feng then returned to White River City, intending to await Aqua Rose and her allies arrival at the Starstreak Trading Firm.
However, the process of mailing money to other players usually took between 30 minutes to an hour.
Hence, Feng decided to first head to the Adventurer's Association.
Currently, none of the Guilds in White River City had their own Guild Residence yet. Members of various Guilds had to visit the Adventurer's Association in order to receive Guild Quests, which they complete to increase Guild Reputation and strengthen the Guild. Hence, the Adventurer's Association had become the second most-popular location in White River City.
Just as Feng was about to enter the Adventurer's Association, his communicator rang.
Feng looked at the ID of the caller and saw it was Gentle Snow
Previously, Feng had used quite a number of Basic Mana Armor Kits to trade for a few Advanced Whetstone Recipes with Gentle Snow. He had then let Cream Cocoa and Melancholic Smile learn the recipes. During this period of time, both girls had already been promoted to Intermediate Forging Apprentices, and were currently in the midst of striving to become Advanced Forging Apprentices.
"Miss Snow, did you find some new Advanced Whetstone Recipes?" Feng asked after answering the call.
"Master Black Flame, how could you hide such an important matter from me? I feel hurt." Gentle Snow faintly smiled.
"Hide? Miss Snow, you must be joking. I am a very superficial person that can easily be seen through. How could I possibly hide anything from you?" Feng joked.
"Alright, stop acting. You placed yourself in the limelight at the Blackwing Auction House just now, and the news of this matter has long since spread throughout the various first-rate Guilds. Each and every one of them wishes to seek cooperation with you and purchase those Arclight Shields from you." Gentle Snow smiled as she continued, "Aren't we old friends? Shouldn't you sell them to me for a cheap price?"
"Your information gathering is truly efficient, Miss Snow. I can sell a few Arclight Shields to you. However, you must pay for them using Coins, or exchange for them using the Magic Crystals you obtained from Team Dungeons."
"Magic Crystals? Although the Bosses drop them every time, the amount they drop is minimal, yet these Magic Crystals possess a very wide range of uses. Let's just use Gold Coins. I wonder how much you are charging for them, Master Black Flame?"
"Alright, then. Since it is for you, Miss Snow, I won't rip you off. As the Arclight Shield is a Fine-Gold ranked shield, I imagine that you know how precious the materials needed to produce it are. Moreover, the success rate of producing it is also very low. I'll sell you each Arclight Shield for 25 Gold, no negotiations." Feng didn't really need to sell the shields to Gentle Snow since he already had all the materials to make them, and he wasn't really lacking money, but he decided to do so anyway to help her out a bit.
"Twenty-five Gold?! Even if I took the fluid funds of every Ouroboros branch in the Star-Moon Kingdom, I still won't have that much money! Can't we trade using Credits? How about 500,000 for each shield?" Gentle Snow was astonished by the Arclight Shield's price. However, she similarly knew of the difficulty of crafting a Fine-Gold ranked shield. If it were up to their forgers to make the shield, the cost might not even stop at just 25 Gold. Yet, it was clearly impossible for them to fork out 25 Gold to purchase an Arclight Shield, unless of course, they decided to stop the Guild's development. Still, halting development at this stage of the game would put the Guild into a decline, so they absolutely could not stop their development.
Currently, all the major Guilds were attempting to obtain the First Clear of a 50-man Team Dungeon, while the Arclight Shield was a must-have item for them to get a lead over the other Guilds.
Faced with two difficult choices, Gentle Snow could only bitterly smile as she was caught in indecision.
"Alright, then. I'll exchange using Magic Crystals," Gentle Snow helplessly said. Ouroboros, a grand and mighty first-rate Guild, was actually poorer than a single independent player. Black Flame was truly a monster.
"That's fine as well. The exchange ratio would be 1-to-100. I'll notify you after I manage to produce them."
Feng smiled as he disconnected the call. He then proceeded to enter the Adventurer's Association.
At this moment, there was a crowd of players surrounding the Quest Board in the lobby of the Adventurer's Association.
Although the EXP awarded by these quests were negligible, the Guild Reputation they gave was very high. Moreover, each player was limited to only three Guild Quests a day.
A Guild could be promoted after it accumulated a set amount of Reputation, and the members of the Guild would receive much better Guild benefits such as bonus EXP when doing Quests.
"Excuse me, sir, what can I do for you today?" the blue-haired lady standing behind the reception counter asked Feng, a smile on her face.
"I wish to establish a Guild," Feng said.
"Understood. Please fill up this application form." The receptionist passed Feng a Guild application form.
It was very easy for players to establish a Guild in God's Domain. Players only needed to decide on a name for their Guild and designate a Guild Emblem. They were then required to purchase a Guild Certificate for 10 Copper Coins and have at least seven independent players place their signatures on it. When all these things were completed, the Guild would then be officially established.
Newly founded Guilds would all start out as 1-Star Guilds, and the only benefit available for the members of a 1-Star Guild were the availability of the Guild Quests.
"Guild name?" Feng looked at the blank space meant for the Guild's name, wondering if he should come up with a new name, but quickly decided to stick with Zero Wing. Although it'd be a bit funny to see his guildmates' reaction to him changing the name they've been using for ten years, the name Zero Wing already had some sentimental value to Feng. Plus, it was a pretty good name. So he didn't change it in the end.
Feng then designed the Guild Emblem in the form of six silver wings.
After purchasing the Guild Certificate, Feng sent Fire Dance and the others a Guild Signature invitation.
---
Meanwhile, Fire and the others had long since left the Trial of God a few days ago. After leveling up to Level 20 quickly, they separated. Those who didn't get their past memories worked on improving themselves along with the instructions they were previously given, while those who had their memories were looking for opportunities on their own; seeking to improve themselves.
---
Darken Marvelous, a Level 50 Map
The Darken Marvelous was a map constantly enveloped in utter darkness. Once inside, a person's perception would be drastically weakened, and even seeing your hands when they were right in front of your face would be difficult. If someone were to accidentally wander inside, they would easily get turned around and unable to find a way out.
In truth, as soon as someone entered the Darken Marvelous, they would be affected with its darkness, so even if someone managed to escape from the containment of the map, they would still be unable to tell.
Howls and roars could be heard from the inside, seeming like a nightmare land, deterring anyone from entering.
Suddenly, the darkness was pierced, and the sky above the center of the map lit up. A gigantic golden magic circle appeared in the sky, shining down on the core of the Darken Marvelous.
When the golden magic circle in the sky had finished gathering magic power, the magic circle transformed into a shooting star, falling from the sky. An explosion occurred when the star landed, and the blinding light was barely suppressed by the endless darkness of the Darken Marvelous.
A second golden-colored shooting star immediately appeared in the sky and quickly descended. Another star followed, before another. After around a dozen stars crashed down, the light finally disappeared, and the Darken Marvelous returned to its initial gloomy look.
"It's finally dead." At the core of the Darken Marvelous map, Blackie slumped to the ground. In front of him was a charred land, with a crater of a few yards deep in the center. At the bottom of the crater was a corpse of a Level 50 Lord rank monster.
After resting for a while, Blackie walked up to the corpse and started checking the drops.
"Good, it's here." Blackie breathed a relieved sigh after picking up a black eyeball the size of a basketball, before using an identification skill on it.
[Darkness Lord's Eye]
The eyeball contains a powerful aura of darkness. If unsealed, one can become a Darkness Meister and wield the power of total darkness. If one wishes to awaken the power contained within, they need to gather the power of a Tier 3 Dark Cursemancer and expend 5 Mana Stones.
Class restriction: Cursemancer
The Darkness Meister was the Advanced Legacy Blackie had chosen to use for his class change. The Darkness Meister was among the top of Advanced Legacies. That was one of the reasons Blackie had chosen it, while another was that he had a high chance of being able to get it, since it will drop from killing the Lord in front of Blackie, as long as no players above Level 50 participated in the raid, and that the boss took extra damage from light attacks, like the Stars of Light.
Even so, the fight was a struggle. If Blackie hadn't gotten his new equipment and skills from the Trial of God, he probably would not have been able to kill it by himself.
Just as he was picking up the rest of the of the loot, Blackie received a Guild Signature invitation.
"I suppose it's about time." Upon looking at the date and time, Blackie could already guess who's it from before even checking. He opened the message, and as he expected, it was an invitation to join Zero Wing. Blackie naturally clicked "Agree" without any hesitation and received a system notification.
System: Congratulations on becoming a member of Zero Wing!
System: This is your first time joining a Guild. Activating Guild System.
Blackie then returned to White River City after picking up the rest of the loot.
---
ROAR!
A resentful and reluctant roar echoed as an Earth Dragon fell to the ground with its HP reaching zero.
"Hopefully it dropped from this one. It'll be such a pain if I have to look for another one." Cola muttered as he inspected the Earth Dragon's loot.
Cola had decided to use the Dragon Slayer Legacy for his class change in this life as well, so he's been hunting for monsters that could drop the Dragon Origin Crystal. The Earth Dragon he just killed was one of such monsters. Although it had dragon in its name, the Earth Dragon wasn't an actual dragon. It merely had some of the dragon's bloodline.
Normally, such a monster needed to be at least Mythic to drop the Dragon Origin Crystals, but there were some special ones that could still drop it regardless of rank, the Earth Dragon being among them. However, the lower the monster's rank, the less chance there will be for the Dragon Origin Crystals to drop.
Feng had known that Cola would be going for the Dragon Slayer Legacy, so he had given Cola Shadow's Blessing, along with some other items he got from Faust that gave a few points of Luck.
Still, Cola's luck hadn't been that good. Since the Earth Dragon he just killed was only a Level 45 High Lord, he didn't have much hope, and started considering whether or not he should look for another Legacy.
"There's actually one!" Cola exclaimed when he found a Dragon Origin Crystals among the drops "And it just barely qualifies."
In order to produce the Dragon Soul potion needed for obtaining the Dragon Slayer Legacy, one usually needed an Intermediate Dragon Origin Crystal or better. Regardless of how many Basic Dragon Origin Crystals were used, it was impossible to produce the Dragon Soul Potion with them.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Origin Crystal's grade could be determined by the bloodline density within it.
If a crystal's bloodline density fell between 1% and 30%, it was Basic grade. Most of the Dragon Origin Crystals that dropped were this grade.
A crystal with a bloodline density between 31% and 50% was considered Intermediate grade. Crystals of this grade had a much lower drop-rate.
As for crystals with a bloodline density between 51% and 70%, they were Advanced grade.
Lastly, crystals with bloodline density above 71% were Peak grade.
The Dragon Origin Crystal Cola obtained had a bloodline density of 31%, just barely enough to make a Dragon Soul potion. However, the success rate in the potion's creation would be much lower with such a small bloodline density, and even if it did succeed, the quality of the potion would be low.
Although the rank of the Dragon Legacy he got from using such a poor quality Dragon Soul Potion would be low, Cola wasn't really worried about that. He could always improve it once he gets to higher levels and tiers.
Just as Cola was rejoicing, he received a Guild Signature invitation. When he saw it was for Zero Wing, he immediately clicked "Agree" and received a system notification.
System: Congratulations on becoming a member of Zero Wing!
System: This is your first time joining a Guild. Activating Guild System.
Picking up the last of the items dropped by the Earth Dragon, Cola teleported back to White River City.
---
Inside the void, a magnificent church emanating a holy aura floated, completely unaffected by the void's dangerous energies. The faint sound of a tolling bell could be heard coming from it.
Inside the church, the phantom of a beautiful woman in nuns clothing floated. Despite merely being a phantom, the Divine Might she radiated surpassed most regular Gods.
"Child, I shall give you my Legacy. You may activate it whenever you feel ready to take on its trial. I hope you will use it well." The woman's phantom spoke to a pink haired girl as it slowly disappeared.
System: Congratulations! You have completed the Legendary ranked Quest "Religion's War." Rewarding 5 level increases, 30 Legacy Skill Points, 100 Free Mastery Points, Unsealed Peak Legacy "True Saint" and the "Holy Child" title.
Before Violet could feel happy about completing the quest and getting the True Saint Legacy, the church started shaking and gradually disappearing. Violet suppressed her excitement and ran towards the exit at full speed, not knowing where the church would go to, and if she'll be able to leave at that point.
As she jumped through the exit, Violet took out an Instantaneous Movement Scroll and used it while relying on the church's remaining aura to resist the void's environmental effects.
A few seconds after the Instantaneous Movement Scroll activated and Violet teleported away, the church disappeared along with the sounds of tolling bells, returning the void to its usual deadly silence.
White River City:
Violet appeared in White River City's teleportation hall. Leaving the crowded hall, Violet went to a nearby hotel and rented a room, wanting to inspect her gains. As soon as she closed the room's door, Violet took out a seven colored bell.
This was the Legacy item needed to trigger the class change for the True Saint Legacy, one of her God's Domain's Ten Great Saint Legacies.
As Violet inspected the seven colored bell, a message about a Guild Signature invitation appeared. Violet took her eyes off the bell and checked the invitation. She'd normally ignore such messages, but she knew that it should be about time for Feng to establish Zero Wing.
"It's good I managed to finish the quest in time." Violet clicked "Agree" before logging off to rest, ignoring the system notifications she received.
---
Somewhere in the sky, on top of a floating island, a woman in red leather armor, with two daggers that emitted electricity on her waist, stood above the corpse of a Level 50 High Lord angel-like creature.
"It's just another Advanced Legacy." Fire sighed in annoyance as she looked at the pure white feather in her hands. The feather was a Legacy item for an Advanced, Angel-type, Legacy, but Fire was unsatisfied with it. She didn't really have an idea of what Legacy would suit her best of the ones she knew about, so she's just been searching at places she had information about; hoping to find a suitable Peak Legacy.
But not only had Fire not found one such Peak Legacy, she didn't even find a single Peak Legacy yet, only finding two Advanced ones and a few Common Hidden Classes.
"Tch, whatever. Angels don't suit me anyway." Fire complained to herself while picking up the rest of the items scattered on the floating island "Looks like I'm out of time, anyway." Fire's looting was interrupted when she received a Guild Signature invitation.
Seeing it was for Zero Wing, Fire immediately clicked "Agree". She then received a system notification.
System: Congratulations on becoming a member of Zero Wing!
System: This is your first time joining a Guild. Activating Guild System.
After Fire finished gathering all the loot, she returned to White River City.
---
On the other side, Feng had already left the Adventurer's Association, returning to the Starstreak Trading Firm.
At this moment, the Starstreak Trading Firm was packed with players. The trading firm was currently the most lively location in White River City, second to none.
"Hey, bro, I see that you're here to buy those Basic Mana Armor Kits, right? With so many people lining up here, you would need to wait at least a week before you can even get one for yourself. However, I have here a way to help you save your time, letting you jump the queue to buy the Mana Armor Kits in advance." A thinly built Swordsman walked around the entrance of the Starstreak Trading Firm, chatting up the players lined up outside the building.
"Really?" A player clearly grew interested.
"Of course. A Basic Mana Armor Kit costs 20 Silver Coins, while you only need to pay 2 Silver Coins to skip the long wait to buy it," the thin Swordsman said with a smile.
"Alright, bring me there. It's just an extra 2 Silver Coins. Our party won't miss this little amount of money."
Following which, the thin Swordsman led the player up to the second floor, skipping the long queue on the first floor.
Feng ignored the Basic Mana Armor Kit dealing and went to the Forging room on the fourth floor of the trading firm. He then took out the Arclight Shield Forging Design, along with the Book of Creation, using Blessing of Creation on the design.
After the process finished, Feng inspected the Arclight Shield Forging Design, which had now turned into a forging design for the Dark-Gold Arclight Guard.
Feng learned the Forging Design and started producing Arclight Guards.
A normal Basic Forger would only have a 2%[6] success rate in making a Dark-Gold item. However, with all the tools Feng had, his success rate was around 90%. And with Feng's forging skills, there was basically no chance of failure.
Around an hour later, Feng's forging was interrupted when someone knocked on the door of the Forging Room.
"Come in."
When the door to the Forging Room opened, Anna walked in.
"Your Excellency, an adventurer named Aqua Rose wishes to meet you. She says she has an appointment with you, and she is currently waiting in the meeting room on the third floor," Anna said respectfully.
"Alright, I'll be there in a minute," Feng nodded his head.
During this time, he had forged several Arclight Guards, while intentionally failing seven times to lower the rank to Fine-Gold for selling to Gentle Snow and at Starstreak. Although he doubted that Snow would mind if he sold her Dark-Gold shields, Feng didn't want the timeline to change for now, lest he ends up shooting himself in the foot by helping Snow too much.
---
Inside the meeting room on the third floor, Aqua Rose and her hundred-plus subordinates were seated around the room, having a small discussion about matters relating to Feng.
These players all had relatively high Levels. The lowest out of all of them was Level 13, while the others were Level 14. Even if placed inside a first-rate Guild, all these players would be considered elite members.
These players were all Aqua Rose's most trusted aides.
Before they had arrived here, they hadn't dared to imagine that there would actually be someone willing to spend 300 Gold Coins to bring them to this place. If the organization this person belonged to wasn't extremely rich, then this person was just insane!
However, after they discovered that Black Flame actually had a connection with such a large trading firm, their thoughts immediately changed. Not only did Black Flame manage to achieve something that no other Guild had achieved, his fame in the entire Star-Moon Kingdom could already be described as the sun in midday.
It was especially true for the recently popular Basic Mana Armor Kit. This was an item that plenty of Guilds could only dream of having.
If they could be a part of the power Black Flame belonged to, then couldn't every one of them obtain their very own Basic Mana Armor Kit? This was definitely a treatment that no other first-rate Guild could provide.
"Big Sis Aqua, just who is that Black Flame? Is he in the upper management of a Super Guild?" a female Swordsman curiously asked.
Aqua Rose shook her head, a bitter smile on her face as she replied, "I don't know, either. He has always been very mysterious. However, I believe that we will be able to find out his true identity today."
In truth, Aqua Rose was also interested in finding out the truth. However, now that they were going to join the power Black Flame belonged to, Black Flame would have no need to hide the truth from them. They could finally take a look at the giant hidden behind Black Flame.
"Sorry to keep all of you waiting."
The moment Feng walked into the meeting room, everyone inside immediately fell silent. Everyone present stood up as they looked at Feng, deep veneration in their eyes. They were like interviewees standing up to welcome their interviewer; some were nervous, while some were excited.
After leaving Twilight Echo, they were like homeless little birds. Although they wished to soar higher into the sky, they did not possess a home they could return to. Feelings of helplessness and disappointment constantly filled their minds as they wondered what sort of future awaited them.
However, the situation was different now. They would be joining an even greater family now. At this moment, these ex-members of Twilight Echo rejoiced over the fact that they had chosen to leave Twilight Echo together with Aqua Rose, praising themselves for making a wise decision.
After all, a bright future had already opened its doors to them!
"I am the one who should be sorry for making Master Black Flame wait for us for so long," Aqua Rose apologized.
"Since we will be companions in the future, stop referring to me as Master this or Master that. Just call me Black Flame." Feng could sense the cautiousness behind Aqua Rose and everyone else's actions. However, he didn't bother with it, saying "I have only asked you all to come here so that I can invite everyone into the Guild first. Later on, Miss Aqua can freely decide how you all wish to develop yourselves. I won't set any restrictions for you. Right, here is a copy of the White River City Guidebook. After you are done reading it, you should be able to familiarize yourself with White River City, Miss Aqua."
Saying so, Feng sent a copy of the luxury version White River City Guidebook to Aqua Rose. Simultaneously, he had sent everyone present a Guild invitation.
"Zero Wing?"
"What is this Guild?"
"Why is it only a 1-Star Guild? Wasn't it supposed to be some sort of hidden power?"
Everyone entered a daze for a long time after they received Feng's Guild invitation. Ignoring the fact that they had never even heard of such a Guild, just having status of a 1-Star Guild showed how weak Zero Wing was. The reason being, even third-rate Guilds at this stage of the game were 3-Star Guilds, not to mention first-rate Guilds.
After taking a look at the member count of the Guild, everyone was further dumbfounded.
Before they had joined, this Guild only had nine members? What kind of Guild was this?
Zero Wing was the weakest Guild they had seen so far, second to none.
Even Aqua Rose herself was shocked by this revelation. The current situation was completely different from what she had imagined it to be. She had thought Black Flame would be bringing her to meet the many great characters of this Guild, allowing her to get a grasp on the frightening background of the Guild. Yet, the truth that Feng revealed had far exceeded her expectations.
The reason being, the influence of this Guild could literally be determined in a single glance.
"You all must be very disappointed to find out that my Guild is actually so weak, right?" Feng looked at everyone's crestfallen expressions. Suddenly, he said in a cold voice, "Let me give it to you straight. This, this is Zero Wing. It is neither weak, nor strong. It is merely a home that you can stay in. As for how others are going to view us, it will depend on your own performances."
Although they felt that what Feng said was logical, their disappointment still did not decrease by the slightest.
Out of everyone present, only Aqua Rose's fighting spirit truly ignited.
She was the only one who truly understood the meaning of Feng's words.
"Black Flame is right. How powerful a Guild is, is not important. How powerful we are, ourselves, is the crucial point. Since we have joined Zero Wing, let us be the ones to change how others view Zero Wing," Aqua Rose explained loudly, in complete agreement with Feng's opinion.
Everyone fell silent at Aqua Rose's words, but a fiery fighting spirit could be seen growing in their eyes.
That was right! They had originally intended to start from the very beginning. Now that they had a wealthy tycoon like Black Flame supporting them, what more should they be afraid of?
At this moment, Feng sent Fire Dance and the others a message:
"Do it."
Immediately, Feng received a reply:
"Understood."
After seeing this message, Feng's gaze shifted towards everyone present in the meeting room. He then announced loudly, "I know that some of you still have some worries, so I'll give you all a little surprise. I'll let you all get a better understanding of just what Zero Wing is."
"A better understanding of Zero Wing? Does this Guild still have any secrets?"
Everyone grew confused at Feng's words. Everything about this Guild was clear in one glance, so what secrets could there possibly be? The only thing that could possibly be a secret was the Guild's frightening financial resources. With such a large fortune, they should have no problems getting their hands on the various welfare benefits that players would receive upon joining a Guild. Moreover, Black Flame was the publicly acknowledged Chief Forger of Star-Moon Kingdom. In the future, Guild members would have no lack of weapons and equipment to use. However, this shouldn't count as a secret, right?
"Everyone can take a look at White River City's Ranking List now," Feng said softly.
"Ranking List?"
Everyone promptly called out the Ranking List to take a look.
"Is there something wrong with the Ranking List? I remember that when I came to White River City, the top player on the Ranking List was Lone Tyrant. At that time, he was only at Level 15. How did he suddenly become Level 20? Did the system make a mistake?"
"No, that's not right! Look at the player ID! It's not Lone Tyrant!"
"It might not be a mistake by the system. Look, the top eight players have all been switched out. Even the player at eighth place is Level 20 now. Lone Tyrant is still Level 15, and he's placed ninth now. How is this possible?"
"Level 20! Isn't this level too much of an exaggeration? Even at the Storm Empire, the highest leveled player is only at Level 16. How could White River City possess eight players who have managed to surpass the top player at Storm Empire?"
"Wait! These players all belong to the same Guild, and the Guild's name is called... Zero Wing!"
Although Fire and the other three gained EXP from killing monsters while searching for Legacies, they had put a large amount of it into leveling up the skills they had acquired from the Trial of God, so they dropped back down to Level 20.
Everyone was dumbfounded when they discovered the changes in the Ranking List. They trembled, not daring to believe their own eyes. These eight players were actually their Guild members.
However, everyone's hearts were filled with questions.
If Zero Wing had eight such powerful experts, why did the Guild remain unknown to the public even until now? This was simply unimaginable.
"This is the strength of Zero Wing?" At this moment, Aqua Rose started renewing her evaluation of Black Flame and this Guild.
Although Zero Wing was small, it was a gathering of experts.
Wealth, manpower, and finally, fame. As things were, Zero Wing possessed the foundation necessary to become a large Guild.
As long as they managed the Guild benefits they offered properly, Zero Wing could easily become a large Guild within a short period of time. It was no wonder Black Flame looked so confident.
Meanwhile, as Aqua Rose and her subordinates were reeling over their new discovery, the entire White River City had already been thrown into an uproar.
Lone Tyrant, who had been monopolizing the first position on White River City's Ranking List all this time, had actually been kicked off by someone else. Moreover, he wasn't just kicked off by a single person, but by eight. The sudden appearance of these eight players made Lone Tyrant's previous glory look like a joke. It was as if these eight players had merely been giving in to Lone Tyrant before, just like how an adult would indulge a little child. Now, however, they were no longer letting Lone Tyrant have his way.
Otherwise, how would they explain this situation where eight players had instantly taken away the top eight spots on the Ranking List? There was only one possible explanation: they had constantly been hiding their levels.
"These people are inhuman!"
"Crap! All eight of them are Level 20! I've only managed to hit Level 13 after working so hard. Are they trying to make me despair?"
"God, carry me, please!"
"What kind of backing does this Zero Wing have? Aren't they a little too amazing? Is some major power planning to set up a stronghold in White River City?"
Many players within the White River City region were stirred up by this incident. The top eight positions on the Ranking List were actually taken over by a single Guild; one could just imagine how powerful this Guild was. Even Ouroboros, the number one Guild in White River City, was not as powerful.
Many independent players had started making inquiries into just what kind of Guild Zero Wing was.
There were even some independent players who had directly asked how they could join Zero Wing on the public forums.
After all, with such leveling monsters in the Guild, wouldn't they too be able to level up like a rocket if they joined?
Suddenly, Zero Wing had become the hottest topic for every player in White River City, and many had expressed their willingness to join such a Guild.
Although independent players went into raptures over Zero Wing, the various large Guilds, on the other hand, were having a headache over it. They held nothing back at investigating this new Guild that suddenly popped up and also the top eight players on the Ranking List.
However, the information they received made Zero Wing look even more mysterious, as they failed to find out even who the Guild Leader of Zero Wing was.
The only thing they knew was that Fire Dance had once occupied the first place on the White River City Ranking List. In addition, the other seven players had also once been among the top ten of the Ranking List. Meanwhile, all eight of these players shared a common point.
All eight of these players had vanished from the public eye for quite some time now.
Previously, everyone had assumed that they had gone silent because they were overtaken on the list.
However, the reality of the matter was that these players had intentionally hidden themselves simply to avoid discovery until now.
---
"Can someone tell me what is going on here?" Lone Tyrant looked at the Ranking List, bellowing, "Just where did these bastards pop out from?"
At this moment, nothing was more humiliating for Lone Tyrant than his position on the Ranking List. His past glory was already worthless now. Instead, he had become the laughingstock of everyone in White River City.
"Guild Leader, I've already investigated these players. It seems that all of them are associated with Ye Feng. Moreover, I've also looked up Zero Wing at the Adventurer's Association. The Guild was registered only recently, and it is possible that it is a Guild formed by Ye Feng himself," a Ranger said.
"Good. Very good. At first, I thought that he had hidden himself out of self-awareness after I placed a bounty on him. However, it seems he is taking me lightly! Since he has come out to slap me in the face, and has even started a Guild in White River City, I will make him regret his decision! Immediately find out all the members belonging to Ye Feng's Guild! I want his Guild destroyed!" Lone Tyrant bellowed as he announced a command to the entire Guild. He had to destroy this Guild and flatten Ye Feng at all costs. Not only was he doing this for himself, it was also the command of that mighty personage.
Lone Tyrant wasn't the only person who was enraged by the matter of the Ranking List. The other Guilds in White River City were similarly furious.
The Ranking List was a place for Guilds like them to increase their reputation. Although such a method of advertising was not as effective as obtaining the First Clear of a Dungeon, if they could occupy the Ranking List for extended periods of time, it would still bring about significant effects.
Now, however, Zero Wing occupied eight of the top ten positions, and many Guilds were disgruntled over Zero Wing's monopoly of the Ranking List. These Guilds couldn't help but wish they could invite Zero Wing's Guild Leader and give him a piece of their mind to relieve their dissatisfaction.
---
At the Level 18 map Pyroxene Mountain, a 20-man elite team was currently clearing out the Level 18 Six-armed Stone Monkeys here.
The Six-armed Stone Monkeys were monsters with large bodies. Although they were two meters in height, their movements were extremely agile. Their Physical Defense was very high, and their only weakness was their low Magical Resistance. Hence, using large-scale magic attacks against these monsters would be very effective. Moreover, the Six-armed Stone Monkeys lived in groups on this mountain, and players could very easily lure a group and promptly kill them.
"Snow, the Ranking List has been occupied by Zero Wing. Moreover, their levels are all very high. It would be very difficult for us to catch up to them. It really makes you wonder how they managed to level up so quickly." Zhao Yueru currently sat on a rock, resting as she replenished her Mana. After receiving a report from her subordinate and promptly taking a look at the Ranking List, she was immediately shocked by what she discovered.
As a player who had originally ranked within the top ten of the Ranking List, Zhao Yueru knew very clearly just how large a gap there was between Level 15 and level 20.
"As expected, they are very strong. That Ye Feng has quite the ambition as well, even though he usually maintains a low profile. It seems that he has finally decided to take action now." Gentle Snow did not feel any shock when she looked at the IDs of the top eight players.
"Snow, have you known all along?" Zhao Yueru asked, confused.
"Mm, after they decided to hide their levels, I figured that their levels were not that simple. Ye Feng did not wish others to know, so he kept them hidden. Only, I never imagined that their actual levels would be so high." Gentle Snow was greatly interested in these talents. She inwardly lamented the fact that these experts could only stay holed up in such a small Guild. If they joined Ouroboros, they would definitely shine with even greater brilliance.
If they stayed in such a small Guild, they would very quickly fall.
After all, a Guild needed financial resources to develop itself. Gentle Snow firmly believed that Ye Feng did not possess a frightening amount of financial resources, especially Gold Coins. There was also the lack of manpower. It would be impossible to develop a Guild in God's Domain just by relying on several players. In addition, they would also have to suffer the oppression of other large Guilds. Hence, Gentle Snow determined that Zero Wing would not last long at all.
However, at the end of the day, Ye Feng was still her friend. Hence, Gentle Snow sent a message to Feng, congratulating him on establishing Zero Wing. As to how he should develop his Guild, as an outsider, it would not be good for her to make any suggestions.
---
On the third floor of the Starstreak Trading Firm, the situation was not as grim as Gentle Snow believed it to be.
As someone who had once managed a first-rate Guild with over 10,000 subordinates, Aqua Rose possessed a wealth of experience. Hence, when placed in a situation where she had a large amount of financial resources but only a small Guild of slightly more than a hundred players to manage, she could carry out her tasks with little to no effort.
"Guild Leader, I have received your intentions. I will increase our member count up to 5,000 to the best of my abilities. As for the matter relating to the Guild perks system, for the moment, I will implement Twilight Echo's Guild perks system as a temporary replacement. However, I hope that you can draft it as soon as possible. Otherwise, once some time passes, it would not be as easy to make changes to it." Aqua Rose now had a good grasp of Zero Wing's situation, and she felt very optimistic about Zero Wing's future prospects.
Wealth, manpower, and fame. With all three things together, it would be very easy for them to recruit a large batch of new members.
"Then, I'll leave that to you, Aqua." Feng decided to let Aqua manage the guild, as he was already used to him doing his own thing while leaving the guild's matters to his Vice-Guild Leaders.
As for meeting up with Aqua in real life to return her memories, that would have to wait for a bit. If he suddenly told Aqua to come to Jin Hai City, she might start doubting his intentions. Even if it was under the excuse for training, she might think it's weird, since she had no idea of Zero Wing's power and training abilities.
Although the chances of Aqua refusing or suddenly having a change of heart about Zero Wing were low, Feng wasn't willing to take any chances. In any case. it wasn't that urgent, so Feng decided to take his time and merely give a suggestion.
He then returned to producing the Arclight Guards and Intermediate Mana Armor Kits.
Later on, the members of the Guild continuously increased. The reason being, Feng had set the exchange of Basic Mana Armor Kits as one of the perks available to Guild members. This item held a fatal attraction to independent players, and if new members wished to obtain them, they needed to exchange for them using Guild Contribution Points.
Meanwhile, there were many methods for them to obtain Guild Contribution Points:
1) Dungeon diving.
2) Exchanging Bronze ranked equipment or above.
3) Making a contribution to the Guild - the upper management of the Guild would reward players who made a contribution with Contribution Points.
4) Carrying out Guild Quests - Contribution Points would be awarded by the system in this case.
5) Personal Guild Reputation received reaching a certain amount.
Hence, with so many methods available, Guild members would have no need to worry about not being able to earn sufficient Guild Contribution Points.
However, to prevent abuse by opportunistic players, further restrictions were added to increase the difficulty for Guild members to obtain the Basic Mana Armor Kits. Above all, one had to contribute a set amount of Reputation Points to the Guild before being allowed to exchange for the Armor Kits. Secondly, one needed a large number of Guild Contribution Points to exchange for the Armor Kits. Meanwhile, the total value of these Guild Contribution Points was no lesser than 20 Silver Coins.
With these two safeguards present, there would be no opportunity for Guild members to abuse the Guild perks system implemented.
Meanwhile, during this time Aqua Rose had also arranged for her subordinates to recruit players at the Trade Area and Adventurer's Association.
After half a day of recruitment, Zero Wing's member count increased explosively. From the original hundred or so members, there were now over 3,000 players in the Guild. Moreover, the tide of players wanting to join the Guild showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.
"Big Sis Aqua, the number of players wanting to join the Guild hasn't decreased at all. If this situation continues, we can easily recruit double the target of 5,000 members. Should we increase the number of players we recruit?"
"Follow the original plan; we won't be able to handle so many players right now. If we did so, it would instead force the Guild into a period of stagnation, hindering our development. Increase the entry requirements for the Guild; raise the minimum level requirement from Level 11 to Level 12."
Under Aqua Rose's management, the newly recruited Guild members started taking on Guild Quests. Aqua Rose's direct subordinates had also split up and formed new parties to raid Party Dungeons, upgrading the equipment of the new members. Everything was flowing smoothly at Zero Wing, and it did not look like a newly established Guild at all.
Before he knew it, nighttime arrived at God's Domain. Feng immediately logged out of the game.
The reason being, the Jin Hai Fellowship Party that Feng was going to use to gather some of his previous guildmembers was being held today. He needed to make some preparations before he attended the party.
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1. I'm gonna say right now that there's a lot of copy-pasting in this chapter, since I didn't really see the need to change much.
2. I feel like there are other kingdoms who lacked ores, but this is what the novel says.
3. I could not be bothered to think of anything new.
4. No idea why Shi Feng didn't just do this in the novel instead of letting NPCs start bidding.
5. Not entirely sure on how SF can see the attributes before he crafts one, but it's in the novel, so I put it here as well.
6. Not sure if this is accurate.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone