THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 5 - Season 8 Episode 57

Star-Moon City, the Star-Moon Restaurant’s top floor:

Few players were usually willing to dine here. However, more than a dozen player currently occupied the large, luxurious hall. If Gentle Snow were there, she would have been shocked as every one of these players was an Elder from the Star Alliance. Even Galaxy Past had to behave respectfully before these people.

Currently, however, every Elder had lowered their head as they watched the Level 10 woman seated on a bench, fear and respect radiating off of them.

“What did you just say? Galaxy Past has not been able to log into the game?” Exemplary Willow asked quietly, frowning. “What the hell is going on?”

The Star Alliance’s Elder felt helpless against Exemplary Willow’s questioning.

After the Guild war ended, the Guild’s upper echelons should’ve begun working to stabilize the Guild. Yet, for some reason, the majority of the Guild’s upper echelons, who had participated in the war, could not log into God’s Domain.

Based on the Main God System’s notification, these people were locked out of the game for around two or three days. Some were even barred from entering the game for up to four days.

Four days’ time!

That was enough time for the mainstream players in Star-Moon Kingdom to grind at least one Level.

Although they, the Guild’s Elders, had tried to stabilize the falling morale that shook the Guild, with the disappearance of the majority of the Guild’s upper echelons, many members began to doubt the Guild. Many had begun to wonder if the Alliance’s experts had defected to some other Guild.

If the Guild’s experts had left, what was the point in remaining in the Guild?

Only a few hours after the Guild war ended, over ten thousand members had withdrawn. If this persisted, no one knew if the Star Alliance would survive.

However, this was not the most tragic issue.

The Star Alliance’s defeat had infuriated Exemplary Willow.

A high and mighty first-rate Guild like the Star Alliance had actually lost to an upstart Guild–on their home ground no less! This caused Exemplary Willow to doubt the Star Alliance’s strength.

If Exemplary Willow suddenly decided to withdraw her funding, it would deal a fatal blow to the Star Alliance.

“If none of you knows why they can’t log into the game, your Guild may be truly finished,” Exemplary Willow stated coldly as she sneered at the Alliance’s Elders before her. Sternly, she said, “Since your Guild is nothing more than a failure, then you can forget about any follow-up investments! I have no intentions of spending money on a wastrel of a Guild! Get lost!”

When the Elders heard these words, their complexions paled to a sickly white, every one of them begging Exemplary Willow for mercy. Unfortunately, Exemplary Willow chased them all out of the room.

Exemplary Willow refused to tolerate defeat.

She had initially invested in the Star Alliance to deal with Zero Wing, teaching Shi Feng the consequences of angering Open Source Corporation. She would then plunder the Stoneclaw Mountains’ Magic Crystals for herself. Yet, in the end, not only had she failed to teach Shi Feng anything, but his fame had also grown.

“The Flower of Seven Sins is also garbage. They had been so confident of themselves. In the end, didn’t they lose as well? Fortunately, I only promised them one-third of the Stoneclaw Mountains’ Magic Crystals and did not have to pay much,” Exemplary Willow muttered as she glanced through Star-Moon Kingdom’s official forums. Her mood soured as she saw the many discussion threads relating to Black Flame. “In the end, it seems that I’ll have to use my own power to resolve this matter.”

…

Meanwhile, in the real world, the Star Alliance’s upper echelons enclosed themselves in a secret meeting.

Although they could not contact each other in God’s Domain, the Star Alliance was a major company in the real world. The company often held video conferences between its upper echelons. Even without God’s Domain, this latest loss would not affect the company. Only, it was a lot more difficult to direct the Guild members in God’s Domain.

“Guild Leader, we suffered tremendous losses. Based on the initial statistics, we lost over 50,000 items. We’ll need quite some time before we recover. However, the most tragic loss is ours. None of us can log into God’s Domain for some time. It will be a challenge to catch up to Ouroboros,” Red Feather reported sourly.

He had never imagined that they would actually lose this war so tragically.

Not only had the Guild’s experts been wiped out, but the Guild’s elite army had also almost been obliterated. Less than 10% of the elite army had managed to escape with their lives.

The loss of EXP, equipment, and post-war compensation were huge problems that they needed to deal with.

Most likely, by the time they saw to those issues, the Star Alliance will have been drained of resources.

“Purple, what’s the situation with the Guild Elders?” Galaxy Past similarly gnashed his teeth upon hearing Red Feather’s report. The Star Alliance had never suffered such a tragic loss. However, they first needed to deal with their current predicament.

“Based on the latest report, it seems that Exemplary Willow chased the Elders away; they are all in a foul mood. Exemplary Willow has probably withdrawn her funding,” Purple Eye said, shaking her head.

“As expected of a businesswoman, she gave up on the Guild as soon as she deemed it useless.” Galaxy Past could not help but laugh, reacting as if he cared nothing for this result.

“Guild Leader, what should we do now?” Seeing Galaxy Past laugh even in this situation, Red Feather’s frustration grew.

Without Exemplary Willow’s funding, the Guild would have to spend significantly more time to recover. They might never truly recover from this blow, and the Guild might fall from its status as a first-rate Guild.

“What’s done is done. These Elders normally have little regard for me. They were also the ones who supported the decision to cooperate with Open Source Corporation. Now that OSC has withdrawn its funding, it is about time for these Elders to leave the Star Alliance,” Galaxy Past sneered.

When Exemplary Willow had first approached them, he had strongly opposed the idea of cooperating with Open Source Corporation; he had not believed that Black Flame was as much as a fool as the OSC thought.

However, with the Guild Elders supporting the decision so strongly, his opposition had been futile.

Now that the Alliance had lost the Guild war, all of the blame could be pushed onto these Elders. He could also utilize the Board of Directors to expel them from the Star Alliance. This way, he would become the Guild’s true ruler, not just in name. In the future, he would have a much easier time taking action.

—

Meanwhile, in God’s Domain’s White River City:

After Shi Feng bade Sharlyn farewell, he took a horse carriage to White River City’s City Hall.

Shi Feng was all too familiar with Star-Moon Kingdom.

He knew of multiple locations which fulfilled two or even all three conditions for a resource-rich Territory. However, players could not reach these locations yet.

If he constructed a city in a very high-level location, the city would not be nearly as attractive to players.

Although building a city in a Level 100 map might be attractive towards players in the future, to current players, this city would be useless.

Without a large player population, the city’s development would be slow.

The city’s construction was not a small issue, either. The demand of manpower and resources could not compare to a town’s. It would be a severe waste if he invested a large amount of resources in something that would not yield any immediate profits.

Moreover, Shi Feng’s goal of constructing a city was to earn money. He could not waste large sums of money on a useless city.

It seems that the Witch’s Hill is my only choice. After considering his options, Shi Feng decided that the Witch’s Hill was the most profitable location right now.

While Shi Feng’s mind wandered, the advanced horse carriage arrived before the City Hall.