THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 8 - Season 12 Episode 2

“They’re looking for me?” Shi Feng could not help but recall the offer Yuan Tiexin had made him before. He then continued, “Have them wait at Candlelight’s main headquarters for now. I’ll head over shortly.”

This war had damaged Stone Forest Town beyond recognition.

Most likely, the town would not be able to resume normal operations for a considerable amount of time. In other words, Zero Wing would lose a major source of income.

Meanwhile, reconstruction would cost a lot of Coins. However, selling the Evil Energy Crystals would undoubtedly be a very foolish move. Moreover, the function of the crystals was still unknown to everyone but himself. How could he possibly reveal it to others? Yet, just the income from the Candlelight Trading Firm was not enough to fund the reconstruction. Not to mention, he also required money to build his city.

There was indeed a need to have a proper chat with the Secret Pavilion.

Among the superpowers in God’s Domain, the Secret Pavilion was undoubtedly the richest.

Just the income from the Expert Lists it released every week was an astronomical amount. There were also the consultation fees it earned from selling information.

It would be foolish of him not to take advantage of the situation when such a wealthy client delivered themself up to his doorstep.

Just as Aqua Rose was notifying the Secret Pavilion about the meeting place, Gentle Snow walked over and reported, “Guild Leader, many independent players are currently voicing their wishes for us to reopen Stone Forest Town right away, particularly the players that are members of the Battle Arena. They are asking for us to immediately reopen the town’s Battle Arena. Otherwise, they are going to ask for their Magic Crystals back. Should we prioritize the repairs of the Battle Arena first to appease these members? If they continue making a fuss, there will most likely be many players seeking to withdraw their membership.”

As the Vice Guild Leader of Zero Wing, Gentle Snow had some detailed information regarding Zero Wing. So, she was very clear just how poor Zero Wing currently was.

In the past, she had always thought that Zero Wing was definitely the wealthiest Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom.

After all, it had the Candlelight Trading Firm and Stone Forest Town providing it with income. The amount of Coins these two places raked in each day could make even the Guild Leaders of first-rate Guilds envious. However, when she took a look at Zero Wing’s accounts, they might as well be a blank sheet of paper.

It really made her wonder just where the money Zero Wing earned was going.

Gentle Snow had no idea that while Zero Wing was indeed earning a lot of Coins, it was spending even more—the expenditure of Gold Coins was in the tens of thousands.

“Are they in such a hurry?” After giving the situation some thought, Shi Feng chuckled and said, “Alright, then. Tell them that they may withdraw if they want to. However, once the town is reconstructed, the membership fee for the Battle Arena will be increased to 1,200 Magic Crystals. Moreover, rental for the combat rooms will be doubled. If they wish to withdraw their membership, I very much welcome them to do so.”

“This…” Gentle Snow could not help but stare at Shi Feng, stunned.

They would practically be chasing away their customers if they did so.

Previously, the membership they charged was already out of reach for most independent players. Only a fool would be willing to pay 1,200 Magic Crystals. Not to mention, if they doubled the rent of the combat rooms, it might even affect business at the Battle Arena.

“Relax. Just tell them as is.” Shi Feng waved his hand, not bothering with additional explanations.

Previously, he had focused on running Stone Forest Town as a small town that even ordinary players could enjoy. Now, however, he had changed his mind.

He intended to turn Stone Forest Town into a holy land for PvP!

Now that there were three Magic Towers in Stone Forest Town, the ambient Mana density was much higher than before. Just the cost of maintaining the three towers was extremely high. Retaining the current prices was simply impossible if Zero Wing wished to keep the three towers in operation.

Most importantly, he now had a Town Promotion Order in his hands.

Shi Feng never dreamed that Lancelot would actually drop such an item.

Although this Town Promotion Order was only Secret-Silver rank, it was enough to promote a Basic Town directly into an Intermediate Town.

This was a treasure that many Guilds dreamed of obtaining. No Guild would be willing to trade it away even for 20 Epic items.

Getting a town promoted was a challenging proposition in God’s Domain. It was also very time-consuming. Any slight instability or security problem might cause several days’ worth of effort to go to waste.

With the Town Promotion Order, however, Shi Feng would be able to promote Stone Forest Town into an Intermediate Town, bypassing the NPC population requirement altogether. He would also be able to hire up to 2,000 NPC guards. At the same time, he could construct real defensive structures instead of basic ones like the Defense Turret. The size of the town would also increase by multiple times. With this, Stone Forest Town would be able to accommodate many more players instead of having players squeeze against each other as they walked through the streets.

A larger town would definitely attract more players. He was not worried about losing visitors at all.

Once Stone Forest Town was promoted, he could also level up all the structures inside it, expanding them significantly. Take the Battle Arena for example. Currently, it was only a five-story building. Once the town was promoted, however, the Battle Arena could have up to eight floors. After including the underground level, the Battle Arena would have nine floors in total. With this, the number of customers they could receive each day would increase substantially.

By then, Stone Forest Town would become a true money-making machine.

However, there was a prerequisite to all of this.

And that was money!

Moreover, it had to be a considerable sum!

Upon hearing Shi Feng’s response, Gentle Snow helplessly informed everyone of the new rules in Stone Forest Town. As for Shi Feng himself, he used a Return Scroll to travel to White River City.

The new rules immediately enraged many independent players.

“Zero Wing is simply going overboard! Who would be willing to pay a membership fee of 1,200 Magic Crystals?!”

“They are even doubling the rent now! Do they think our money grows on trees?!”

“I’m going to get a refund! Only a fool would visit Stone Forest Town in the future! If I had that kind of money, I might as well spend it at the Divine Colosseum!”

The spies Blackwater planted in Stone Forest Town began making a ruckus over the new rules, though many independent players did find their words reasonable.

Although the Mana density in Stone Forest Town had indeed increased slightly and would be beneficial for improving their strength, the new prices were simply beyond the reach of ordinary players. Even elite players would not be able to afford to train in the Battle Arena for long periods.

For a time, many Battle Arena members requested refunds, feeling that Zero Wing was trying to cheat them out of their money.

While Aqua Rose and Gentle Snow were grappling with this matter, Shi Feng was seated on a sofa inside a VIP room on the second floor of White River City’s Adventurer’s Association, leisurely browsing through the designs of Intermediate Towns.

Players had many templates of Intermediate Towns to choose from, and each template had their strong points.

Likewise, different templates had different prices.

Some templates were more suited to economic development through NPCs. Such templates allowed the town’s Popularity to increase much more rapidly. Similarly, there were templates geared towards economic development through players. In addition, some templates facilitated the hiring of powerful NPC guards. In any case, many kinds of templates were available depending on the kind of a town that players wished to construct.

Unlike capturing a town, promoting a town cost much less. Moreover, as Shi Feng was using a Promotion Order, the expense was even lower. He only needed to spend 3,000 Gold to promote Stone Forest Town to Intermediate Town status. After applying his identity as a City Protector, he would receive a 20% discount and need to pay only 2,400 Gold in total.

This savings freed up more money, which would allow him to choose better templates.

Sure enough, the templates available here are quite inferior when compared to the one dropped by Lancelot. Taking a careful look, Shi Feng noticed some templates that were only made available to him due to his City Protector title. Even so, none of them could match the Town Design dropped by Lancelot. Shi Feng then turned to the NPC beauty standing at a side and took out an ancient design from his bag. Softly, he asked, “If I wish to use this design here, how much will it cost?”

*NOTE: THIS IS VOLUME 8 OF THIS STORY, TO READ PREVIOUS VOLUME 7 CLICK ON BELOW BLACK ARROW IMAGE.

TO CONTINUE WITH THIS VOLUME CLICK ON RED ARROW AT THE END OF THIS PAGE.