THE STRONGEST THUNDER SWORD, VOLUME 8 - Season 12 Episode 5

Yuan Tiexin fell into a daze after he read the message.

An Intermediate Town!

Although the Secret Pavilion had captured many towns, they were all still far from becoming Intermediate Towns.

“Uncle Yuan, what happened?” Purple Jade asked curiously when she noticed Yuan Tiexin long stretch of silence despite Shi Feng’s arrival.

Yuan Tiexin finally reacted, returning his gaze to Shi Feng with a perplexed look. Just when he thought that he had uncovered all of Zero Wing’s secrets, he felt as if he knew nothing about the Guild once again.

Did Zero Wing truly lack a background as he had thought?

Yuan Tiexin did not respond to Purple Jade’s question. Instead, he smiled at Shi Feng and said, “I really must congratulate you, Guild Leader Black Flame. Not only did you defeat Blackwater, but you’ve also promoted Stone Forest Town to an Intermediate Town.”

Although Yuan Tiexin smiled, inwardly, he was extremely frustrated.

Now that Zero Wing ruled over an Intermediate Town, he had no choice but to place greater importance on the Guild.

An Intermediate Town occupied far more land than a Basic Town. It also had more features.

If one called Stone Forest Town a mountain of gold when it had been a Basic Town, then as an Intermediate Town, it was a diamond mountain.

Setting aside Stone Forest Town’s proximity to the Stoneclaw Mountains, its Battle Arena alone could earn Zero Wing a fortune. Furthermore, plenty of companies would want to open their own virtual shops in the town.

Previously, Stone Forest Town was as valuable as four or five Basic Towns. The town attracted many companies. Unfortunately, Zero Wing’s asking price had been too high, causing many of these companies to shy away. However, now that Stone Forest Town had become an Intermediate Town, even a fool could see its value. Most likely, Zero Wing’s previous conditions would no longer deter companies’ investments. Tons of companies would definitely be willing to invest in the town regardless of the cost.

Right now, Zero Wing did not lack Coins, Credits, or players. It had even earned its prestige. Zero Wing’s future was limitless at this point.

The conditions he had prepared to offer Zero Wing would most likely be of little interest to the Guild now.

“Thank you,” Shi Feng replied politely. He then smiled and continued, “If you have come to purchase the Magic Tower Design, I’m sorry to say that Zero Wing has no intentions of selling it.”

“Guild Leader Black Flame, you jest. The Secret Pavilion has already given up on purchasing the design. Instead, in exchange for constructing one Magic Tower for us, we would like to offer you high-potential Lands in five major cities, each with player populations in the millions. How about it?” Yuan Tiexin asked. After giving the situation some thought, rather than trying to obtain the Magic Tower Design, he would opt for the next best thing.

However, when Purple Jade heard this, she was shocked.

How valuable were major cities’ high-potential Lands, exactly?

The various large Guilds had already bought out these Lands. They were impossible to purchase for a reasonable price, yet Yuan Tiexin had just offered five of the Lands for one Magic Tower.

“Your offer is quite tempting. However, I have to refuse,” Shi Feng responded, shaking his head.

These five plots of Land were easily worth thirty or forty thousand Gold in total at the moment. Moreover, their value would undoubtedly rise as time passed. Even if he rented these Lands out, rather than use them himself, he could earn a hefty sum.

However, his Magic Tower Design only had two uses left. Among them, he had agreed to reserve one for the Town of Beginnings. Even if he traded the remaining Magic Tower for five high-potential Lands, the trade wouldn’t profit the Candlelight Trading Firm overmuch.

Shi Feng’s straightforward rejection stunned both Yuan Tiexin and Purple Jade.

Obtaining these five plots of Land was the equivalent of gaining an additional five million customers. Even a Super Guild’s Guild Leader would pause to consider such an offer, yet Shi Feng had rejected it without blinking…

Purple Jade even began to wonder if Shi Feng truly understood these Lands’ value. Why else would he refuse the offer so decisively?

“May I know how much Guild Leader Black Flame wants for a tower?” Yuan Tiexin asked, gritting his teeth.

The Secret Pavilion was determined to obtain the Magic Tower. The Guild Leader had specifically reiterated this in their conversations.

“I want Lands in these cities. There are a total of twenty locations. I believe the Secret Pavilion should be capable of obtaining them.”

Shi Feng then revealed a list of several minor NPC cities. Most of these cities had populations below 100,000, with some as low as 30,000. These cities were also spread out, covering eleven kingdoms and two empires.

“This…” When Yuan Tiexin heard that Shi Feng wanted twenty plots of Land, he nearly cursed at the man. However, when he read the list and noticed that all of the names belonged to minor cities, he was stupefied.

Even if he added all of the cities’ player populations, the total was less than two million. Moreover, the Lands in these locations did not have much potential. He could not fathom what was going through Shi Feng’s mind.

However, this was good news for the Secret Pavilion.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, is this all that you want?” Yuan Tiexin asked. He doubted that Shi Feng was so generous.

“Of course not. I still want a 20,000-Gold construction fee.” Seeing Yuan Tiexin’s skepticism, Shi Feng had no choice but to state a more ‘reasonable’ price.

Truthfully, his price was quite high. Even Shi Feng thought that he was ripping off the Secret Pavilion.

Although these twenty plots of Land were not particularly expensive, they served a great purpose. However, even if he wanted to buy these Lands himself, he could not. Other large and small Guilds already occupied them. These Guilds would only part with the Lands at a reasonable price if an existence like the Secret Pavilion took action.

In the past, these Lands’ cities had been known as ‘Golden Cities.’

These cities had earned that name due to their proximity to high-level maps that provided Diamond Wood.

Diamond Wood was a rare type of wood in God’s Domain. It was specifically used to produce high-ranking boats. Even if Diamond Wood were used to produce a Common Speedboat, that boat’s standards would almost be on the same level as Bronze Speedboats. Hence, Diamond Wood had been incredibly popular among the various large Guilds and seafaring adventurer teams.

Unfortunately, Diamond Wood was extremely rare. Many kingdoms and empires lacked maps that provided the wood, including Star-Moon Kingdom.

Now that he had his own Medium Shipyard, he had to prepare.

In the past, he hadn’t had this opportunity. Now that the chance was before him, how could he miss it?

Lands in these cities had sold for astronomical prices during his previous life. Back then, 50,000 Gold had been the bare minimum to purchase one plot of Land.

Unlike ordinary materials, players could not store the wood meant for crafting boats in their bag space. Rather, players had to transport the wood at its full size. Moreover, even when the wood reached an NPC town or city, it was still considerably troublesome to transport the wood to its final destination.

Of course, players could utilize teleportation arrays to transport the wood. Only, the price of teleporting a single log was far higher than teleporting a player. In the past, the most common transportation method had been transport carriages. However, it would be foolish to transport a single log each trip. Hence, players usually stockpiled the wood before hauling it all at once.

However, NPC towns and cities did not permit players to leave piles of items on the streets. If anyone dared to do so, their items would be confiscated immediately.

Due to this, the various large Guilds had needed warehouses to store the materials.

To put it simply, Guilds in the past had spent 50,000 Gold to purchase warehouses for their Diamond Wood.