THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 8 - Season 12 Episode 4

Shi Feng felt his head ache when he heard the administrator’s price.

In reality, this was considered cheap. An Intermediate Town shouldn’t have appeared at this stage of the game.

In the past, the first Intermediate Town had only appeared after mainstream players had reached Level 60. During that time, Tier 2 expert players were commonplace. Right now, however, mainstream players weren’t even Level 40.

Guild mainstream players could earn money far more quickly at Level 60 than Level 40.

Following which, Shi Feng gave up on constructing his town and stored his Grandmaster Town Design before leaving the VIP room.

Town reconstruction was only one of the benefits of an Intermediate Town. Reconstructing the town was not necessary to reopen it to the public.

Currently, Shi Feng lacked Coins. Hence, he could set this matter aside for now. In any case, Stone Forest Town had already been successfully promoted to an Intermediate Town. The Grandmaster Design wasn’t going anywhere. He could simply operate Stone Forest Town as usual. It would not be too late to reconstruct the town after a few more days of earning money.

…

In the Candlelight Trading Firm’s second-floor lounge…

Yuan Tiexin and Purple Jade both sat quietly inside the lounge.

“Uncle Yuan, I’m afraid that we’ll have trouble completing this trade. For some reason, the Evil Energy in Stone Forest Town is gradually dissipating. It is only a matter of time before Stone Forest Town recovers. Zero Wing won’t be interested in our conditions,” Purple Jade said after she finished reading the information the Secret Pavilion had sent her. Smiling, she said, “Blackwater, Heaven’s Burial, and Pantheon have suffered greatly. Not only have they failed to obtain Stone Forest Town, but they have also lost all of the members that they had dispatched. This is the first time Pantheon has suffered such a massive loss since joining God’s Domain. They definitely have a mess to clean up.”

The relationship between the virtual gaming world’s super powers was not as peaceful as everyone thought. If given the opportunity, these powers would be more than willing to choke their rivals to death. After all, every game’s resources were finite. If they had one less competitor, they could claim far more resources for themselves.

Pantheon had lost one trump card legion and two core legions in this war; that was a total of 3,000 experts. This would be a significant blow to any Super Guild. The loss of the trump card legion was particularly severe.

Any player capable of joining a Super Guild’s trump card legion could reach the Trial Tower’s sixth floor at the very minimum. Such experts were considerably rare in first-rate Guilds. In the eyes of ordinary players, those who reached the fifth floor were already considered experts, much less the sixth floor.

“Zero Wing is truly unpredictable.” Yuan Tiexin shook his head and laughed. “No wonder they aren’t afraid of mutual destruction with Blackwater. However, this doesn’t affect our plans in any way. Even if Stone Forest Town recovers, it will take a considerable amount of time and resources. Meanwhile, Candlelight Trading Firm cannot wait that long. It is even more so for Zero Wing.”

He had not talked through his hat.

Currently, both the Blackwater and Heavenly Trading Firms were pressuring the Candlelight Trading Firm. Although Candlelight still held considerable influence in Star-Moon Kingdom’s market and maintained its daily traffic, how long would that last?

Both the Blackwater and Heavenly Trading Firms were marking down their prices and selling their items at a loss. They could also keep this up for a considerable amount of time due to their abundant funds and powerful connections.

However, what about the Candlelight Trading Firm?

The Candlelight Trading Firm had neither abundant funds nor powerful connections. It’s only capital was Stone Forest Town. There was no way Candlelight could win a price war against the Blackwater and Heavenly Trading Firms.

Moreover, without sufficient Coins, Zero Wing could not continue to develop.

Now that Zero Wing was in the limelight, this was the perfect opportunity for the Guild to develop and widen the gap between itself and Blackwater. If Zero Wing only continued its development after Blackwater recovered, the Guild would be in big trouble. If Blackwater decided to take action against Zero Wing again, it would take more precautions and would not be caught off guard as it had been in this war.

Furthermore, Zero Wing currently had an agreement with the Secret Pavilion to hand over the Bronze Mounts and Strengthening Devices. These items were considerably expensive; obtaining them would not be that easy.

If Zero Wing wished to earn more Coins, working with the Secret Pavilion was undoubtedly the best decision.

Just as Yuan Tiexin and Purple Jade were quietly discussing Zero Wing’s situation, Shi Feng, currently disguised as Black Flame, entered the lounge.

“What a powerful mental oppression!” Yuan Tiexin was shocked when he laid eyes on Shi Feng. Meeting the man in person felt massively different than watching Shi Feng on the screen.

Although Shi Feng had hidden his weapons and equipment’s glow effects and sheathed his aura, Yuan Tiexin, with his bountiful experience, immediately sensed the dangerous atmosphere coming from Shi Feng. This Swordsman felt like a dragon lurking in the water.

“Six Epic items…?” Upon closer inspection, Yuan Tiexin’s lips involuntarily twitched.

In God’s Domain, the difference between Epic items and Dark-Gold items wasn’t limited to their aura effects. There was also a huge difference in the materials used to produce them. Even if Shi Feng tried to hide his items’ glow effects, players who were familiar with the materials could easily recognize the items’ quality.

Yuan Tiexin had researched the various materials available in God’s Domain precisely to gauge others’ strength.

After all, there were too many experts who preferred to keep a low-profile in God’s Domain. If he knew how to determine equipment quality, should he come across an independent expert, he might be able to recruit them into the Secret Pavilion. As for his enemies, he could use this knowledge to gauge their strength and respond appropriately.

“Uncle Yuan, are you sure?” Purple Jade was slightly doubtful when she heard Yuan Tiexin’s words.

Even their Guild Leader did not have as many as six Epic items on him. At most, he had around three…

Epic items were simply too rare. Even Grand Lords rarely dropped them.

Hence, even now, she only had two Epic items. Even so, many of the Guild’s upper echelons were incredibly jealous of her. Of the two Epic items, one was a weapon while the other was a pair of shoes. She had obtained the shoes during a fortuitous encounter. However, that encounter had cost her a level and plenty of effort. As for the weapon, the Guild had given it to her due to her status as the Guild’s top genius. Even a genius like Cold Autumn had not received an Epic item.

Yet, Shi Feng had six Epic items. Anyone would question this matter.

“Do you doubt this old man’s judgment?” Yuan Tiexin could not help but roll his eyes at Purple Jade. Although he was no match for the little girl in terms of potential, he could rank among the top five in the Guild when it came to judging item quality.

“Six Epic items… Is this the secret to Black Flame’s strength?” As Purple Jade quietly watched Shi Feng approach, her will to challenge the man to a fight was immediately extinguished.

Only those who used Epic items knew their strength.

If two combatants had roughly equal combat standards, the one with six Epic items would trample over the one with only two. Furthermore, her standards were weaker than Shi Feng’s. By challenging him right now, she’d only ask for a beating.

After Shi Feng took his seat and before Yuan Tiexin spoke, he received a message from his Guild—Stone Forest Town has been promoted to an Intermediate Town!