Chapter 2012 – 2-star Smithy
s.h.i.+ Feng stared at the Shop list’s last entry with wide eyes.
A 2-star Shop!
Thunder Axe City did have a few 2-star Shops, but they were beyond players’ reach. Even a Viscount would have to get lucky to secure an opportunity to purchase a 2-star Shop, much less a Baron.
Could this be a reward for being the first person to purchase an Advanced Shop? s.h.i.+ Feng doubted that the Bronze Legatee t.i.tle would grant him such an amazing benefit, allowing him to purchase 2-star Shops in the city. After giving the matter some thought, he realized that this must be a reward for being the first player to purchase an Advanced Shop.
The difference between a 1-star and a 2-star Shop was practically negligible for players in other super-large-scale neutral cities, but it was a different story in Thunder Axe City. Here, the difference between a 1-star Shop and 2-star Shop was like the difference between a town and a city.
Two-star Shops were more attractive to NPCs than their 1-star counterparts. NPCs typically viewed 2-star Shops as more valuable and reliable, so they favored Shops with higher-star ranks.
Two-star Shops also operated on a different scale than 1-star Shops, but this was beyond just the physical size of the Shop. More importantly, higher-ranked Shops could handle larger transactions with NPCs.
Each transaction with NPCs in 1-star Shops could only reach a maximum value of 50 Gold, whereas 2-star Shops’ transactions could reach a maximum of 300 Gold, a sixfold increase. After factoring in NPCs increased interest in conducting business with 2-star Shops, the difference between ranks was clear.
Hence, Thunder Axe City’s 2-star Advanced Shops were extremely valuable. Countless Guilds had dreamed of purchasing their own, but very few had actually succeeded. Most powers had been limited to 1-star Shops, slowly upgrading them to 2- star status.
However, in G.o.d’s Domain, once one fell behind, making a recovery became intensely challenging.
Meanwhile, the various large Guilds dreamed of purchasing 2-star Shops to ensure the upgrade to 3-stat status. NPC cities could only have a limited number of 3-star Advanced Shops at a time. Once this limit had been reached, the 2-star Shops that met the requirements for an upgrade could only become 3-star Shops after surpa.s.sing another 3-star Shop’s transaction volume. Unfortunately, surpa.s.sing a 3-star Shop’s transaction volume was nearly impossible for a 2-star Shop…
When a 2-star Shop completed its promotion to 3-star status, it would undergo a qualitative transformation, increasing its maximum transaction value to 1,000 Gold. Although the increase ratio wasn’t as great as that between a 1-star and 2-star Shop, it was a major turning point.
Once a Shop reached this maximum transaction value, Thunder Axe City’s n.o.bles would visit to conduct business. The items these n.o.bles possessed was far beyond that of ordinary NPCs. A n.o.ble’s every item was valuable and precious.
Upgrading a 1-star Shop to 2-star status in Thunder Axe City cost a lot of time and resources. By the time one completed the upgrade, those who had purchased 2-star Shops would’ve already upgraded to 3-star status. Trying to contest for the limited 3-star Shop slots would become atrociously difficult at that point.
This was also why Shadow had only possessed a 2-star Shop in Thunder Axe City during s.h.i.+ Feng’s previous life. As far as he could remember, only superpowers and a few first-rate Guilds had secured 3-star Shops in the city, and ordinary first- rate Guilds had no hope of competing for a slot.
Why wouldn’t s.h.i.+ Feng be surprised to find that he could purchase a 2-star Shop right off the bat?
Moreover, the 2-star Shop in question was an Advanced Smithy. Naturally, smithies were the most valuable to G.o.d’s Domain’s Guilds among the various Advanced Shops.
This was the case due to the specialized transactions each type of Shop conducted with NPCs. NPCs that visited smithies were generally there to order custom weapons and equipment. Moreover, these NPCs would prepare their own materials, including rare forging materials that players could obtain by operating a smithy. In addition, ordinary NPCs and NPC merchants frequently sold their ores to smithies, making these Advanced Shops the perfect place to obtain materials.
“Lord Bronze Legatee, are any of these Lands and Shops to your liking?” the Elven administrator asked curiously after s.h.i.+ Feng’s long moment of silence. “If nothing here interests you, you may return next week. We should have others who want to sell their properties at that time.”
“No, I’m very satisfied with what I’ve seen. I’ll take these five plots of Land and these two Shops,” s.h.i.+ Feng said as he pointed to the inner area Lands and outer area Shops.
Since he was only a Baron, he could only purchase Lands and Shops in the city’s inner and outer areas. Moreover, very few Lands in the inner area were available to him, and they weren’t in optimal locations. As for Advanced Shops, a Baron was only allowed to purchase those in the city’s outer area. Only Viscounts and above had access to Advanced Shops in the inner area.
However, this discovery relieved s.h.i.+ Feng. If he had only been offered Advanced Shops in the city’s inner area, he’d only be able to purchase the 2-star Smithy along the city’s edge with the money he had on him.
Even so, the 2-star Smithy already cost him 90,000 Gold, and the 1-star Potion Shop he had selected cost 47,000 Gold.
“Very well. The total for these five Lands and two Shops comes to 206,000 Gold!” the Eleven beauty joyfully exclaimed after swiftly completing her calculations.
If first-rate Guilds’ upper echelons saw s.h.i.+ Feng spend over 200,000 Gold on two Shops and five Lands, they’d think that he’d lost his mind. With so much money, one could purchase more than ten plots of Land in the heart of a kingdom’s capital.
However, s.h.i.+ Feng paid the 206,000 Gold without hesitation. Rather, he found the price quite reasonable. While this investment might not yield any short-term returns, the profits would be well worth the cost once players entered the game’s later stages.
s.h.i.+ Feng had only brought a little over 170,000 Gold with him when he had set out on his Exploration quest He had also spent over 20,000 Gold in Glory Town. Fortunately, while he had been gone, the Guild had acc.u.mulated over 70,000 Gold in savings, despite Zero Wing’s continued expansion. He just barely had enough to settle the bill; he wouldn’t have much left after this transaction.
A short moment later, the Elven administrator revealed seven Deeds and handed them to s.h.i.+ Feng. Once he verified that everything was correct, s.h.i.+ Feng set off toward his new Advanced Shops. He stored 5,000 Gold in each Shop for NPC transactions. With his tasks completed, s.h.i.+ Feng didn’t linger in Thunder Axe City. He used a Return Scroll and teleported back to White River City.
Contrary to his expectations, s.h.i.+ Feng didn’t find White River City in desolation upon his return. Now Zero Wing had temporarily withdrawn from the struggle in the Witch’s Hill, its prestige in Star-Moon City had fallen, but as he wandered White River City’s streets, he noticed that the city’s population had increased yet again.
s.h.i.+ Feng saw countless players from large Guilds on his way to the Candlelight Trading Firm. These Guild players wandered the city with enthusiasm, making up roughly 10% of the players on the streets.
White River City had already become a major city with a player population of over 10,000,000. Ten percent of that equated over 1,000,000 Guild players, a significant number.
“Melancholic, has something happened in White River City? Why are there so many players from other Guilds?” s.h.i.+ Feng asked Melancholic Smile after returning to the Candlelight Trading Firm and storing the t.i.tan Ore he had obtained during his Exploration Quest.
“Nothing has happened recently,” Melancholic Smile answered, smiling bitterly. “So many Guild players are here due to the losses our Guild suffered in the Witch’s Hill thanks to the Starlight Alliance. After our withdrawal, the Alliance called us out to fight in an all-out war. If we refuse, the Starlight Alliance will slay every player in Zero Wing City. Our Guild members have been fighting the Alliance’s members all over the kingdom, but the results aren’t pleasing. Because of this, every large Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom things that it has a chance of taking over White River City. They’re all preparing to do so.”
“These Guilds really know how to take advantage of an opportunity,” s.h.i.+ Feng could not help but chuckle upon hearing Melancholic Smile’s report “Since the Starlight Alliance wants a fight to the death in the Witch’s Hill, I’ll grant their wis.h.!.+ Notify Aqua immediately and have her gather 1,000 Tier 2 s.h.i.+eld Warriors and Berserkers in White River City’s Residence!”
“I’ll notify her right away,” Melancholic Smile said, nodding.