THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 2 - Season 5 Episode 67

“Aside from establishing a Guild Residence, Overwhelming Smile has also recruited a team of experts. These experts have been ambushing our teams and killing many of our members.

“Some of our Tier 1 members have encountered them before, and although they were no match for our members in a one-on-one battle, those experts are well-trained and coordinate with each other flawlessly. With three people working together, they can finish off one of our Tier 1 members quickly. We estimate that Overwhelming Smile has over a hundred of these experts and has scattered them across various leveling areas. They randomly appear and kill our members who are questing or leveling, causing us tremendous losses. Although we have invested a lot of time and manpower into hunting these experts down, we have come up with nothing…”

Aqua Rose ground her teeth with frustration as she spoke about Overwhelming Smile’s mysterious experts, and she wanted to hunt them down and end them personally.

Thanks to these experts, Zero Wing had lost an additional 2,000 or so members in just one day.

Ever since Zero Wing had declared war on Overwhelming Smile, the Guild had only suffered around 6,000 deaths. This little group of experts had caused over 2,000 of those deaths. Moreover, they had caused so much damage in one day. Aside from the lost equipment and levels, the compensation costs wounded the Guild’s finances. If this situation repeated itself everyday, the several hundred Gold the Guild had accumulated through Guild Quests would only last a few more days before it dwindled to nothing.

“This means that Overwhelming Smile is finally getting serious.” Frowning, Shi Feng said, “Since they wish to send experts to ambush us, we have no need to hold back. Have Fire Dance and the others eliminate them. However, scatter the group to separate locations. We’ll hold off on the Team Dungeon for now. As for our regular Guild members, have them form teams to grind in the fields from now on.”

“Okay, I’ll notify Fire Dance and the others immediately,” saying so, Aqua Rose disconnected the call. She then contacted Fire Dance and Zero Wing’s other top combatants.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng halted his work in the forge. After tidying up, he left the forging room and hurried to the Bank.

Shi Feng had never expected Overwhelming Smile to possess such a card. This situation certainly surpassed Shi Feng’s initial estimation of his enemy.

Fortunately, Zero Wing had far more experts than Overwhelming Smile. In particular, Zero Wing possessed an absolute advantage when it came to Tier 1 players, as Overwhelming Smile still did not have a single Tier 1 player. All this time, Zero Wing’s experts had split into two batches and took turns slaughtering Overwhelming Smile’s members. This way, not only could they make Overwhelming Smile suffer, but they also wouldn’t significantly hinder their own development.

Now that over a hundred experts had suddenly appeared in Overwhelming Smile, Shi Feng would not let them run free.

Moreover, the fact that Overwhelming Smile now possessed their own Guild Residence was bad news for Zero Wing. Originally, Zero Wing had only attracted so many new players to the Guild due to their Guild Residence. The benefits a Guild Residence offered persuaded the Guild members to ignore Overwhelming Smile’s high offers and continue their development with Zero Wing. Now, however, Zero Wing’s members would be tempted to join Overwhelming Smile as the benefits they could obtain there were not inferior in the slightest.

However, Gold Coins were still what was most important!

Originally, Overwhelming Smile was only wealthy in terms of Credits. To Shi Feng, the Guild was no threat at all. After all, many of the items in God’s Domain could only be purchased with Coins. Even if one had an endless supply of Credits, the number of Coins they could buy was limited. Furthermore, Overwhelming Smile was not the only Guild in God’s Domain purchasing Coins in bulk, further limiting what was available.

In an all-out war between Guilds, Coins were the most consumed resource. There was the cost of purchasing and repairing equipment to consider, in addition to compensating Guild members. Battles between players placed a massive burden on equipment Durability. Take Shi Feng’s battles for example: a single strike from his sword could scrap Bronze Equipment. Only Mysterious-Iron Equipment could withstand his attack, and even then, it would only last a few extra hits. Even if the equipment was not destroyed, even elite players would cough blood with shock at the repair fee to recover the item.

Although equipment could be purchased from the virtual trade center and compensation could be paid out using Credits, the system controlled equipment repair fees, and it did not acknowledge Credits.

A single player’s repair fee was not much, costing around 2 Silver Coins. The repair fee for 10,000 players, however, would be at least 200 Gold Coins, a very frightening amount. Not to mention, the higher quality equipment a player wore, the higher their repair fee would be.

Although the repair fees were not the Guild’s responsibility, but the players,, how many times could a player afford to repair their equipment in a long war?

Once players ran out of money, how could they continue to involve themselves in the war if their equipment was close to breaking? Unless they decided to risk themselves without weapons and armor…

In the early stages of the war, the Guild members would accept Credits as compensation and reward. However, after some time, they would need to purchase Coins with the Credits they received.

Hence, Coins were the true foundation of wars in God’s Domain.

Meanwhile, a Guild Residence was a Guild’s main source of income for Coins during the early stages of God’s Domain. If Overwhelming Smile included Coins in their frightening financial power it would create a terrifying combination.

Shi Feng could not afford to continue focusing on plots to earn money. He needed to take action.

After returning the Philosopher’s Stone to his Warehouse, Shi Feng used the Seven Luminaries Gemstone and teleported to Blackwing City, taking the Dragonscale Sets with him.

At present, Blackwing City had become a gathering place for players from kingdoms and empires all over God’s Domain. Compared to Shi Feng’s previous visits to the city, the player population had grown significantly. Moreover, there was an important difference between the players in Blackwing City and the players in other cities.

Wealth!

The players in Blackwing City were extremely wealthy. Moreover, the money these players possessed did not only involve Credits, but also included Gold Coins.

A majority of the players in Blackwing City were the upper-management personnel of various large Guilds, and they had come to Blackwing City specifically to do business. Hence, the amount of Credits and Coins they had on hand far surpassed anything that an ordinary player possessed. Blackwing City was truly the gathering place for tycoons.

This was also why Shi Feng had come to this place today.

Shi Feng had no intentions of selling the Dragonscale Set Equipment for Credits. His goal was to earn Gold Coins. If he sold the Dragonscale Set Equipment in Star-Moon Kingdom’s Auction Houses or at the Starstreak Trading Firm, he would not get a good price. In addition, unlike the players in Blackwing City who would spend several Gold Coins without even blinking, players who could afford such large expenditures were few and far between in Star-Moon Kingdom.

After arriving at Blackwing City, Shi Feng searched for a secluded location. He then used the Demon Mask to don a false identity.

Unlike his previous visit when he tried to keep a low-profile, Shi Feng changed his appearance to that of a very handsome youth. He had even slightly altered the appearance of the Dragonclaw Set Equipment he wore, making it look more imposing. He also chose not to hide the special glowing effect of the Dragonclaw Set Equipment, revealing the telltale light of Dark-Gold Equipment.

When he reached the streets, the Dark-Gold rank glowing effect that enveloped his body nearly blinded other players.

“Damn! My eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, right? That’s a Dark-Gold Set Equipment!”

“Impossible!”

“It looks awesome!”

“Our Guild doesn’t even possess a set of Fine-Gold Set Equipment! Just who is he?”

Shi Feng dominated the attention of the players wandering the streets, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as they stared at him in a daze.

They were all upper-managers of various large Guilds, so their knowledge of the game was extensive. Even if they saw a player wearing Fine-Gold Set Equipment, they would not reveal such exaggerated reactions. At most, they would briefly admire that player’s equipment. A Dark-Gold Set Equipment, however, shattered their understanding of the game.