Chapter 2555 – All New Knight Division
Lorrain nodded to s.h.i.+ Feng’s request and promptly left to retrieve the relevant information. After a short moment, the Senior Administrator returned with a thick book, placing it on the table before him.
“There’s so many?” s.h.i.+ Feng asked, glancing down at the tome.
Lorrain had only given him a sheet of paper during his last visit when he had requested to see his Knight Division’s recruitment status, yet now, she had an entire book for him…
Normally, if there were fewer than 30,000 applicants, players would only be given a sheet of paper. They’d receive another sheet for every 10,000 applicants beyond that and would only receive a complete book once more than 100,000 NPCs applied for their Knight Division.
s.h.i.+ Feng had already recruited NPCs from many NPC cities, and could reasonably a.s.sume he had accepted or rejected most interested NPCs. Hence, he shouldn’t see too many more new applications. Receiving another 50,000 would be a miracle, and yet, more than 100,000 new NPCs had applied…
“Initially, Lord Bronze Legatee, you hadn’t received many applicants. However, due to the large number of other races visiting Stone Forest City, the number of interested individuals has considerably increased,” Lorrain explained.
The Freedom City t.i.tle’s benefits have taken effect so soon?” The explanation stunned s.h.i.+ Feng.
He had thought he’d have to wait a few more days before the t.i.tle took effect. He had just promoted Stone Forest City and a.s.sumed the system would make him wait. However, it seemed that he had somewhat underestimated the new t.i.tle.
“A total of 112,672 people have applied to serve as your Knights. Among them, 83,241 are human, 27,412 are Orcish, 1,836 are Elven, and 183 are Giants. This book has the records of all of these applicants’ information,” Lorrain continued, ignoring s.h.i.+ Feng’s muttering.
“Nearly 30,000 NPCs from other races? If the superpowers of the past found out about this, wouldn’t they go mad?” s.h.i.+ Feng could not help his growing excitement.
Recruiting NPCs from other races for their Knight Divisions was incredibly difficult for players. The other races had smaller populations than humans. Normally, the various superpowers would be overjoyed if even several thousand non-human NPCs applied to serve as Knights.
And yet, s.h.i.+ Feng had nearly 30,000 of these applicants, certainly a frightening number. Not even a 2-star Lord might receive so many throughout a full year.
Most importantly, Elves and Giants had applied in considerably large numbers. The situation had completely exceeded his expectations.
In G.o.d’s Domain, the Orcish population was only second to the humans. Ores typically made up the majority of nonhuman NPC applicants.
Of course, that didn’t discount Ore Knight’s strength. On the contrary, Ore NPCs were quite powerful. They were natural-born warriors with sharp senses and robust frames that were far superior to humans. Excluding Heroes, human fighters were no match for Ore fighters of the same level and tier.
The human race’s superior research and creativity were the reason that Ores weren’t a match for humans and forced to live far from the main continent’s fertile lands.
However, if one could a.s.semble the Ores scattered across the continent and form a melee unit, the force would be absolutely unstoppable in battle.
Shaking off his shock, s.h.i.+ Feng immediately inspected the recruitment list.
When he had arrived, he had only planned to recruit new Knights with high Growth Potential to replace some of his weaker NPCs, but now, he had many more changes to make to his Knight Division.
Time flew by, and without taking a break, s.h.i.+ Feng had spent over 20 hours browsing the recruitment list. He was more focused on the list than he was during Boss fights.
Thankfully, I brought plenty of Coins with me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even have enough to pay the dismissal fees. s.h.i.+ Feng revealed a bitter smile as he finished reading the list.
If things had gone according to his original plan, he would’ve only been able to replace a small fraction of his Knight Division’s members, but now that he could recruit non-human NPCs, which would be bound to him for life, things had changed…
Once he recruited non-human NPCs, he couldn’t dismiss or replace them. Hence, he had to be extremely careful when choosing non-human Knights.
Fortunately, non-human NPCs were much cheaper to recruit and maintain than human NPCs. They were generally 30% cheaper. All things considered, it wasn’t a bad transaction.
Moreover, non-human NPCs tended to be quite talented. In fact, more than half of the non-human NPCs in G.o.d’s Domain were Bronze Knight standard or above, which was one of the reasons that the various powers of the past had preferred non-human NPCs.
Of the 27,412 Ores that had applied to join s.h.i.+ Feng’s Knight Division, 15,123 were Tier 2 Bronze Knights. The ratio was unheard-of among human NPCs. However, it was quite normal with Ores.
Many Tier 3 Ores had also sent in applications, and they all had considerably high potential. Even the weakest among them was at the Mysterious-Iron standard, while 45 were at the Secret-Silver standard, and one Fine-Gold standard Ore had applied.
The Elven and Giant applicants were just as shocking.
Elves were natural-born mages, with higher Growth Potential than most races. Even the weakest Elf that applied was Bronze rank, while as many as 43 were Secret-Silver rank, and two were Fine-Gold rank. Moreover, every Elf applicant was Tier 3…
Although Giants made up the majority of applicants, with only 183,13 were Tier 3 Secret-Silver Knights, and 1 was a Tier 3 Fine-Gold Knight.
More than 100 Secret-Silver and Fine-Gold ranked non-human NPCs had applied to s.h.i.+ Feng’s Knight Division, many times more than those among the 80,000-plus human applicants.
“Lord Bronze Legatee, have you made your decision?” Lorrain asked when s.h.i.+ Feng closed the book.
“Mhm. I want all Knights with Secret-Silver potential and above. I also want these Mysterious-Iron Knights with high Growth Potential and the remaining Tier 3 Knights,” s.h.i.+ Feng replied, nodding.
Normally, an NPC Knight needed at least Mysterious-Iron Growth Potential before they could be promoted to Tier 3. Even in the later stages of G.o.d’s Domain, Tier 3 NPCs would be considered a powerful force. After all, very few players could reach Tier 4. Even if they did, a group of Tier 3 NPCs, backed by a city’s magic array, wouldn’t be an easy opponent. If enough Tier 3 NPCs formed a battle array, they could slay Tier 4 players.
This was why, even after reaching Tier 4, players could only afford to act conceited in the fields.
Very well. There are 152 applicants with Secret-Silver Potential or above. Including the rest, there are a total of 326 Tier 3 Knights. Calculating the recruitment fee of the 1,872 Tier 3 Mysterious-Iron Knights with high potential and some of your current Knights’ dismissal fees, your bill comes to 554,600 Gold,” Lorrain explained after taking a moment to tally his total.
“Please, include the promotion fees for the 437 members of my Knight Division,” s.h.i.+ Feng said. Giving the matter some thought, he continued, “I also want to outfit my Tier 3 Knights with Epic Equipment. How much will that come to?”
“That will raise the price considerably. If we include the 437 people that will be promoted to Tier 3, you will need an additional 5,640,000 Gold to arm all of your Tier 3 Knights with Epic Equipment. With the prior fees, your total comes to 6,198,970 Gold,” Lorrain responded, giving s.h.i.+ Feng a skeptical look.
“Hm…” After giving the matter some more thought, s.h.i.+ Feng said, “Reduce the number slightly, then. I’ll take 1,150 sets.”
That won’t be a problem. Your total will be 5,158,970 Gold. Once we process the payment, the merchandise will be delivered within three hours. The new Knights will arrive at your City Lord’s Mansion within one hour,” Lorrain calmly stated.
s.h.i.+ Feng then nearly emptied his bag of Coins, and in the blink of an eye, he was once again a pauper…
“Nurturing a Knight Division really is expensive. It’s no wonder why all of the superpowers that had Knight Divisions were poor,” s.h.i.+ Feng muttered, bitterly smiling at the less than 3,000 Gold in his bag.
While s.h.i.+ Feng upgraded his Knight Division, in a remote canyon in the distant Cold Spring Forest…
A group of black-clad magical cla.s.s players chanted an incantation along the edge of a gigantic magic array. The array covered a 200-yard radius, and in its center stood an indifferent, handsome youth with a night-black crystal in his left hand, while writing a series of divine runes with his right. With each line of completed runes, a shard broke off of the crystal and disintegrated.
When the crystal was nearly gone, the youth completed the final line of divine runes.
Suddenly, the sky above the magic array split, and a colossal door dropped from the spatial tear. The door was over a hundred meters tall and covered in ancient runes, radiating a mighty aura that made everyone nearby shudder.
Once the door landed, it began to part down the middle.
“Excellent! It’s complete!” Flaming Light exclaimed as the door began to open. He then glanced at the middle-aged man standing nearby and said, “Heart, notify the various powers and tell them that the door is open! Whether they cherish this opportunity or not is up to them!”
“Understood!” Furious Heart respectfully responded, crossing the threshold with his team.