Chapter 1575: Nurturing Experts
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Chapter 1575 – Nurturing Experts
It seems that I’ll need to speed things up, s.h.i.+ Feng thought after hearing Aqua Rose’s report.
He was quite familiar with the Blackwater Corporation’s power. He had witnessed its rise in G.o.d’s Domain in the past.
Despite joining G.o.d’s Domain so late, Blackwater had still developed into a Super Guild quite quickly in the past. One could just imagine how frightening Blackwater’s potential was. Furthermore, the Blackwater Corporation had invested in G.o.d’s Domain much earlier in this life.
Blackwater’s experts had already caught up with G.o.d’s Domain’s mainstream players. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have stood a chance against the other superpowers vying for the Iron Empire.
Of course, Zero Wing didn’t have much to be afraid of if the Blackwater Corporation focused on its development in the Iron Empire. Based on what he heard from Youlan, the Guild had only recently taken control of the empire. The Guild was just starting to expand. Although Blackwater possessed plenty of experts and funding, it lacked the power to spread its influence across multiple kingdoms and empires as the various super-first-rate and Super Guilds had.
While the organization might be able to deal with small Guilds right now, it couldn’t touch Zero Wing.
Unfortunately, that was only true if Blackwater worked alone. If it worked with Heaven’s Burial, Zero Wing’s situation would take a turn for the worst.
Blackwater could leave the reconnaissance to Heaven’s Burial while it supplied the Guild with a large number of experts.
Currently, players who wanted to grind and level up had to travel to distant maps, and most of the high-level maps weren’t concentrated in a single area. Even if s.h.i.+ Feng used the Seven Luminaries Ring’s s.p.a.ce Movement, it would take a considerable amount of time to travel from one high-level map to another.
“How much time have they given us to consider?” s.h.i.+ Feng asked.
“One day…but I let my anger get the best of me, and I rejected their offer instantly…” Aqua Rose said in a subdued voice.
“You rejected them?” s.h.i.+ Feng stared at Aqua Rose in surprise. “Did you really reject them?”
“Mhm.” Aqua Rose nodded silently, knowing that she had made a huge mess of things.
By outright rejecting Blackwater’s offer, she had undoubtedly created another powerful enemy for Zero Wing.
“Hahaha! Good! Well done!” s.h.i.+ Feng could not help but laugh when he saw Aqua Rose’s guilty expression. “Although Zero Wing is not very strong, we’re never afraid of a challenge! If they want to come, let them. We’ll fight it out.”
“Guild Leader…” Aqua Rose felt guilty and slightly touched by s.h.i.+ Feng’s words. Not only didn’t he blame her in the slightest, but he also actively encouraged her.
“Alright, don’t worry about it. This isn’t the first time we’ve fought a superpower,” s.h.i.+ Feng said, shrugging. “But be careful this time. Keep an eye on their movement at all times. Also, we need to push our Guild members to complete their Tier 2 promotions. Every bit of help is useful. Have our Guild’s internal members focus on leveling quickly, so they can add to the Guild’s combat power.”
“Mhm. I’ll prepare some top-tier equipment, Magic Scrolls, and Advanced Potions for our Guild members to challenge their Promotion Quests. As for the Guild’s internal members, I’ll help them level up with Summer,” Aqua Rose said, nodding.
Following which, s.h.i.+ Feng mentioned a few good grinding locations for Aqua Rose to use as she helped powerlevel Zero Wing’s internal members.
The Guild’s internal members already had solid combat standards; they only lacked levels. Once they were brought up to speed, Zero Wing would have another batch of expert players to help defend it.
When s.h.i.+ Feng finished his call with Aqua Rose, he proceeded to train with the Guild’s internal members. To help them improve faster, s.h.i.+ Feng even provided specific guidance to a few talented members. He even went so far as to use the ten additional black cards he had acquired from the Secret Pavilion to train You Ziping and a few others.
In such a way, s.h.i.+ Feng trained You Ziping and the other internal members during the day. When the sun set, he’d log back into G.o.d’s Domain and grind through the Divine Staircase.
The greatest problem other players in the World summit faced was the drain on their Stamina and Concentration, but s.h.i.+ Feng could rely on his Life Essence to boost his recovery rate, having no issues in this regard.
The only real problem was the Divine Shrine’s increasing difficulty. As a result, s.h.i.+ Feng had to take more time to clear each shrine. Initially, he had only spent 30 minutes on each Divine Shrine, though he spent most of that time waiting for Divine Providence’s 30-minute Cooldown to end. As he ascended the Divine Staircase, however, the amount of time he needed to clear each shrine gradually increased to two, then three hours…
After grinding for four consecutive days, s.h.i.+ Feng finally defeated the 29th shrine’s Guardian Boss, a Great Lord ranked Realm Lord.
He had initially a.s.sumed that he’d earn more Shrine Points from each subsequent Divine Shrine he cleared, but that wasn’t entirely the case. After the 10th Divine Shrine, the SP reward only increased once every five Divine Shrines, yet these shrines’ difficult constantly increased as he cleared the last. By the time s.h.i.+ Feng cleared the 29th Divine Shrine, he had only acc.u.mulated 86,360 Shrine Points.
He was still roughly 14,000 points away from affording the cheapest Bloodline.
Fortunately, although he hadn’t acquired as many Shrine Points as he had hoped, he had secured a decent number of Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments. When High Lord and Great Lord ranked Guardian Bosses died, they’d drop at least one crystal fragment, but he had obtained up to three crystal fragments from a single Boss. As a result, he had a total of 43 Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments.
As for the Conqueror’s Armor Design, he had collected six fragments thus far. He was only three fragments away from completing the design.
He had also obtained over 100 Level 50 to Level 55 weapons and equipment. Their ranks ranged between Bronze and Secret-Silver, and although they weren’t top-tier, they were rare and valuable at this stage of the game.
During this time, the White Tiger Dojo had also delivered the previously agreed 50 bottles of S-rank Nutrient Fluid and 20,000,000 Credits. Upon receiving the payment, s.h.i.+ Feng a.s.signed Shadow Sword to take charge of the 500 apprentices from the dojo. These apprentices would train in Zero Wing City’s Battle Arena, improve their Skill Completion Rates in Stone Forest Town’s advanced combat rooms, and level while grinding and questing each day. As a result, their combat standards steadily rose with each pa.s.sing day.
Unfortunately, Zero Wing’s members had encountered group skirmishes with Blackwater and Heaven’s Burial’s experts in the fields, increasing the Guild’s expenditures. Despite the ma.s.sive revenue source ZeroWing City had become, the situation took a heavy toll on the Guild’s funds.
However, monetary compensation wasn’t the Guild’s biggest problem, but the loss of top-tier weapons and equipment. Meanwhile, the Guild only had a few teams capable of acquiring such items.
Although Aqua Rose and the other core members had formed teams to hunt down the enemy experts, they hadn’t obtained enough Level 45 top-tier equipment to replenish the Guild’s stock.
“Guild Leader, I’m afraid that our stock of Level 45 top-tier equipment in the Guild Warehouse will run out at this rate. Many of the other large Guilds in the kingdom have already surpa.s.sed our raid progress in Level 50 Team Dungeons,” Aqua Rose reported, clearly frustrated. “Moreover, based on the latest reports, it seems that Blackwater has sent over 4,000 experts to target our players. Including Heaven’s Burial’s experts, our teams are suffering a ma.s.sive disadvantage while grinding in the fields.”
If s.h.i.+ Feng were present, they might be able to slaughter Heaven’s Burial and Blackwater’s experts a few times by relying on his Spatial Gate, which would, more or less, make up for the Guild’s losses.
Zero Wing’s members were constantly ambushed in the fields, yet Tier 2 experts like her were limited in their ability to fend off every ambush. Unless their Guild members stopped leveling and questing, there’d be no end to this problem.
Moreover, Level 45 top-tier equipment was required to raid Level 50 Team Dungeons. If the Guild Warehouse ran out of such equipment, they’d have to stop raiding these Dungeons. If this persisted, Guild members might even lose interest in earning Guild Contribution Points. If that happened, the Guild would fall apart.
“Have Melancholic and the others focus on crafting Level 45 equipment, and temporarily stop sales on Level 45 Secret-Silver and Fine-Gold Equipment. Use some of that stock to replenish the Guild Warehouse. If worst comes to worst, have Snow send some Level 45 top-tier equipment from the Branch Guild,” s.h.i.+ Feng said after giving the matter some thought.
He had never expected Blackwater to be ruthless enough to send 4,000 experts. To make matters worse, that wasn’t the Guild’s full strength. Blackwater’s foundations had truly exceeded his expectations.
s.h.i.+ Feng jumped back into his virtual gaming cabin, ignoring the fact that it was currently daytime and he was supposed to be resting. After logging back into G.o.d’s Domain, he immediately made his way to the 30th Divine Shrine.