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Chapter 680 - Advanced Forger

System: Congratulations! You are the first player to be promoted to an
Advanced Forger. Rewarding 10 Magical Gold and 20,000,000 EXP.

...

The system notification repeated three times. Upon the arrival of this
system notification, Shi Feng finally stopped producing Intermediate
Mana Armor Kits.

He had required a total of 24,000 Proficiency Points to advance from an
Intermediate Forger to an Advanced Forger. That was double the amount
necessary for the promotion from a Basic Forger to an Intermediate
Forger.

“It really is tough work.” Shi Feng abruptly collapsed into a chair,
breathing out a sigh of relief. “With this standard, I should be able to
manufacture the core component of the Magic Device.”

Even if he was producing Intermediate Mana Armor Kits, it normally
should not have been possible to gain 24,000 Proficiency Points in just
four days. However, he had the Forging Talent “Forging Genius” that
every forger dreamed of obtaining. With each successful forging, he had
a fixed chance to receive an additional two Proficiency
Points—equivalent to successfully producing one more high-level item.
The Luck from Icarus’s Heart also helped increase his chances of
triggering the effects of Forging Genius. Only with the combination of
all these effects did he manage to become an Advanced Forger.

Nevertheless, his success rate at producing the core component of the
Magic Device would still be very low, even though he was now an Advanced
Forger—roughly 10% at most. If he became a Master Forger, though, his
success rate could be as much as 30%.

However, time waited for no man.

Moreover, even if Shi Feng had the Book of Forging, the Blacksteel
Insignia, and Forging Talent, advancing from an Advanced Forger to a
Master Forger would still be extremely difficult. That promotion was no
longer a problem of Proficiency or success rate.

One of the requirements for a player to become a Master Forger was the
creation of their own weapons and equipment without relying on readily
available forging designs. Doing so would not take days but rather
months or years, instead. Hence, even after a decade had passed,
remarkably few players had managed to reach the level of Master.

Setting aside the fact that Shi Feng needed to advance to his Tier 2
class within a short period, just the test for the Tier 2 class was
already quite challenging; the test for one of the Ten Great Saint
Legacies could only be more so. If he wanted to clear the test quickly,
it was naturally better for him to be stronger.

Solomon’s Treasure might allow him to improve his strength further.
Needless to say, he had to complete the quest as soon as possible.

During these four days, many things had also occurred in the vast God’s
Domain. The most popular matter had to be the activation of the Divine
Battlefield at the Divine Colosseum.

The Divine Battlefield was a place for players to wage war against each
other. Players could obtain points for killing other players in the
Divine Battlefield, which they could then use to exchange for rewards. A
wide selection of rewards was available, although the most attractive
rewards were still weapons and equipment. The best reward players could
trade for was Dark-Gold Set Equipment. However, the number of points
required to do so was immense. Moreover, the weapons and equipment
received were nontradable and were usable for only the person who
exchanged for them. Hence, even if the items dropped upon the owner’s
death, other people could not avail of said items, though they could
sell them to NPCs—at dismal prices.

To exchange for Dark-Gold Set Equipment, players were first required to
reach the highest-ranking battlefield. The Divine Battlefield was
divided into multiple ranks—Soldier’s Battlefield, General’s
Battlefield, Marshal’s Battlefield, King’s Battlefield, and Hero’s
Battlefield—with each succeeding rank having increasingly higher entry
requirements.

Only after reaching the Hero’s Battlefield could players collect points
to exchange for Dark-Gold Set Equipment.

However, this was also a good way for experts to upgrade their
equipment. After all, even Guilds had a hard time obtaining Dark-Gold
Weapons and Equipment.

Hence, everyone’s passion for the Divine Battlefield deepened.

When Fire Dance and her team participated in the Divine Battlefield,
they would occasionally get slaughtered as well. The players visiting
the Divine Battlefield did not come from just a single kingdom or
empire. Instead, the entire God’s Domain shared a single Divine
Battlefield. Against monstrous experts or the encirclement of three or
four top-tier experts, even Fire Dance and the other Zero Wing core
members could only accept fate.

This experience also allowed her and the others to realize that, no
matter how strong they had become, there was always someone stronger
than they were. Even if they ranked at the top of a weak, little kingdom
like Star-Moon Kingdom, they were still insignificant beings in the vast
world of God’s Domain.

Meanwhile, the situation at the Stoneclaw Mountains was also heating up.
Many teams had already begun clearing the monsters wandering in between
the outer and inner areas of the Dungeon, and upgrading their equipment
very quickly as a result.

Zero Wing was also sending large numbers of members to the Regional
Dungeon to grind and level up.

For a time, competition within the Stoneclaw Mountains rapidly
intensified, and quite often, friction and fighting would break out
between players in the Dungeon.

With the passage of time and the continuous improvement of the system,
many more experts would emerge in God’s Domain. Hence, Shi Feng was in a
hurry to improve himself further.

“Guild Leader, here are the items you’ve asked for.” The Alchemist Nine
Coasts stacked a pile of components on top of the stone platform.
Respectfully, he said, “These are all the components we’ve managed to
make during these past few days. There are 70 sets here.”

After striving for four days, he and Ocean Smile had managed to
manufacture only 70 sets of components. Despite receiving an endless
amount of materials, their success rates were far lower than their
initial estimates. They had spent a full 1,000 Gold on manufacturing a
mere 70 sets of components. If converted to Credits, that amount of
Coins would be worth several million. At this point, they just wished
they could crawl into a hole and die.

After all, the materials required to manufacture each component cost
roughly 30 Silver. With over 1,000 Gold, they could have produced over
3,000 individual components. Yet, the both of them combined had only
managed to make 140. Their success rate did not even reach 5%.

“Okay, you can go back and continue making the components.” Shi Feng
nodded. He was not surprised whatsoever by this abysmal success rate.

All things considered, those were components required to manufacture a
Magic Device. Their failure to achieve a 5% success rate was entirely
within his expectations.

After Nine Coasts left, Shi Feng sorted his mood out and began producing
the core component of the Magic Device.

The core component required only a few materials. However, they were all
rare materials. Even after the Guild’s combined efforts as well as
purchases through Gentle Snow’s connections, he had managed to collect
only 100 sets of materials. The cost of one set was roughly 10 Gold, so
one hundred sets cost about 1,000 Gold. Meanwhile, Shi Feng’s success
rate was only around 10%. Even the Star Alliance and Ouroboros would not
be willing to take such a gamble.

“Fortunately, I’m earning quite a lot of money through Stone Forest Town
and the Candlelight Trading Firm. Otherwise, even I wouldn’t dare to
take this risk,” Shi Feng muttered, smiling bitterly as he looked at the
materials in his hands.

The core component he was going to produce was a ball-shaped object.
Just refining the metals required was already a difficult task. However,
by relying on the Ice-Blue Devil Flame, the metal he refined had
relatively good color. What came next was molding the metal into the
desired shape. If he was off by even a single millimeter, then the final
product would end up as a failure. As for the last step, he had to
engrave runes onto the metal ball.

Time crept past.

Shi Feng went through 70 attempts in one go.

In the end, only three out of the 70 attempts had succeeded.

The difficulty of producing the core component was much higher than his
initial expectations.

I’m generally familiar with the process already. I should start using
the Magical Gold now. Shi Feng considered the materials he had left,
feeling that he already had sufficient practice.

The Magical Gold rewarded by the system was an extremely rare material.
Not only could it increase his forging success rate, but it could also
evolve an item at a fixed chance. Its market value was no less than 100
Gold per piece.

Initially, Shi Feng had taken 50 tries to produce one core component.
Afterwards, however, he had managed to succeed twice out of 20. Without
a doubt, his success rate had increased significantly, which was all due
to his continuous experimentation using the Simulation Device. If he did
not possess the Simulation Device of the Special Forging Room, he would
have most likely failed all 70 attempts.

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Chapter 681 - Dual Abilities

With only 30 sets of materials remaining, Shi Feng did not dare to be
careless.

A Magic Device was an assembly of different components. The core
component was merely one of three parts. If he failed the final
assembly, the product would be a failure as well, and the components
would have to be scrapped.

Shi Feng had seen a Master Forger assemble Magic Devices in the past.
Back then, said Master Forger only had a success rate of 30%. Even so, a
massive number of players eagerly searched out this Master Forger to
help assemble their Magic Devices for them because other Master Forgers
had less than a 20% success rate.

Five sets of components were required just to assemble a single Magic
Device.

Furthermore, each component set, which consisted of three individual
components, required roughly ten sets of materials to manufacture. In
other words, at least 50 sets of materials were required to produce a
Magic Device. If one were unlucky, they might actually require more than
100 sets...

Even an expert player would have to spend a long time to gather 100 sets
of raw materials. The Coins involved could also put an expert player
into debt.

This was precisely why Magic Devices had been extremely rare in God’s
Domain in the past. The players capable of obtaining one were generally
either experts or wealthy tycoons.

After Shi Feng had gone so much trouble to obtain 100 sets of materials,
he had only managed to produce three core components after expending 70
sets. It was not enough to assemble a Magic Device. At the very least,
he needed to prepare ten core components to have a higher chance of
manufacturing a Magic Device. After all, he was only an Advanced Forger,
not a Master Forger.

Time crawled by.

Shi Feng’s first attempt to produce the core component with the Magical
Gold failed.

The second attempt failed as well.

...

After four consecutive failures, Shi Feng had no choice but to give up
on using the Magical Gold. Magical Gold was one of the best support
tools for forging Dark-Gold and Epic items. Even Shi Feng felt a sting
after failing four times in a row.

On his ninth attempt, Shi Feng finally succeeded.

“Sure enough, engraving the runes is the most difficult stage.”

Shi Feng could tell that his previous successes had not been due to luck
because he had felt as if his entire being had melted into the metal
while he had focused on engraving the runes on this last core. He had
felt something similar during his previous successes.

This feeling of melding with the core component? Shi Feng stopped his
work for a moment and pondered the sensation. It feels somewhat like
improving my Skill Completion Rate. To improve my Skill Completion Rate,
I had to integrate myself with the environment.

Suddenly, Shi Feng retrieved a bottle of Hundred Berry Wine from his bag
and began to manufacture the core component once again. This time, he
used a bar of Magical Gold.

The Hundred Berry Wine was a tool that could increase one’s
compatibility rate.

Since the theory behind engraving runes was somewhat similar to
improving Skill Completion Rates, the Hundred Berry Wine should help him
reach a higher success rate with the engraving the core component’s
runes.

This time, Shi Feng completed the core component’s refinement much
faster than before.

In just five minutes, Shi Feng finished refining and molding the metals.
He also completed engraving the runes in a single breath.

As the core component felt like an extension of himself, Shi Feng’s
control over the rune engraving process was quite high.

System: Core component has been successfully manufactured. Forging
Proficiency increased by 3 points. Obtained 50,000 EXP.

Sure enough, my guess was correct. Excitement bubbled in Shi Feng’s
chest as he heard the sound of the notification. I never realized that
the Hundred Berry Wine could be used like this as well.

Immediately, Shi Feng used the remaining materials in one go.

Of the remaining 20 sets of materials, he successfully produced four
core components. Among them, Magical Gold had been incorporated into
three. His success rate had reached the level of a Master Forger.

With this, he had managed to produce nine core components with the 100
sets of materials. Among them, four had Magical Gold. He was only one
core component from his goal of ten. Now, all that was left was to
assemble the Magic Device. If he succeeded, he would be the first player
in God’s Domain to birth a Magic Device.

As the weapon that had brought about the end of the era of Demons and
Gods, one could just imagine how powerful a Magic Device was. A Magic
Device’s most valuable effect was its ability to strengthen weapons,
allowing these weapons to inflict damage to Demons and Gods. To put it
simply, Magic Devices had given humans the ability to resist Demons and
Gods.

Of course, the Magic Device Shi Feng had obtained was not that powerful
as it was only Bronze rank.

Even so, a Bronze Magic Device should not be underestimated.

As players reached higher levels in God’s Domain, the monsters they
encountered would grow stronger as well. At some point, even Dark-Gold
and Epic Weapons would not deal much damage.

However, after one equipped a Bronze Magic Device, even a Secret-Silver
Weapon could cut through the tough hide and scales of monsters, not to
mention Fine-Gold and Dark-Gold Weapons.

If players did not possess a Magic Device, however, the difficulty of
defeating those powerful monsters would increase significantly.

Hence, in the past, the various large Guilds throughout God’s Domain had
been extremely desperate to obtain Magic Devices. Even the design for a
Bronze Magic Device could incite a war between first-rate Guilds.

Now that Shi Feng had obtained a Magic Device Forging Design so early
into the game, he could begin to manufacture them much sooner than
anyone else. He would also be prepared when everyone began encountering
monsters that could not be easily defeated with normal weapons.

The first assembly failed...

The second assembly failed...

The third assembly was successful!

System: Bronze Magic Device has been successfully manufactured. Forging
Proficiency increased by 5 points. Obtained 100,000 EXP.

Shi Feng was stunned when he heard the system notification.

“This can’t be real, right? Success on the third try?” Shi Feng
muttered, astonishment filling his voice, as he stared at the fist-sized
metal ball in his hand. The black metal ball overflowed with light; the
surging Mana within was visible to the naked eye. “I wonder what kind of
Attributes it possesses?”

After a Magic Device’s successful assembly, it would gain a random
Ability.

Although the bonus a Magic Device provided varied in strength, the Magic
Device’s basic function would not change; the layer of Mana that covered
the weapon, or Mana Blade, was invaluable. This Mana Blade could
interfere with the Mana that radiated off a monster’s body, thereby
weakening its Defense significantly and allowing players to inflict
damage. Otherwise, a monster’s body with that protective layer of Mana
was tougher than diamond. Even scratching the monster would be extremely
difficult, not to mention taking it out.

[Magic Device] (Bronze Rank)

Strengthens a weapon, giving it the Basic Reduced Weight effect and
weaken target’s Mana Body by 30%.

“What a pity. Although the weakening effect is quite powerful, the
Reduced Weight effect isn’t particularly useful to a one-handed weapon.
It would be very useful towards a two-handed weapon though.” Shi Feng
inwardly felt disappointed. Both the Abyssal Blade and Purgatory’s
Shadow fit him perfectly right now. If they became any lighter, he might
not be able to exert his full strength with them.

Following which, Shi Feng returned to assembling Magic Devices.

One... Two... Three...

As his stock of components dwindled, the sound of a system notification
rang by his ears once more.

System: Bronze Magic Device has been successfully manufactured. Magical
Gold’s effect triggered. Forging Proficiency increased by 5 points.
Obtained 100,000 EXP.

When Shi Feng heard that the Magical Gold’s effect had been triggered,
his excitement stole his breath.

Originally, he had only used the Magical Gold to increase the success
rate of manufacturing the Magic Device’s core component. Hence, he had
not expected the Magical Gold’s effect to trigger.

Immediately, Shi Feng clicked to inspect the evolved Magic Device’s
statistics.

“Dual Abilities?! Isn’t this a little too much?!” Shi Feng could not
believe what he was seeing.

A Magic Device could only strengthen a single Attribute. Even the higher
ranked Mysterious-Iron Magic Device was no exception to this rule. Only
the strengthened effects were slightly better. However, the Magic Device
in Shi Feng’s hands actually offered two buffs.

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Chapter 682 - Power of Magic Device

“It really is a pity. It would be great if the Magic Device’s rank were
a little higher,” Shi Feng felt both joy and disappointment as he gazed
down at the pale silver orb in his hand.

The Bronze Magic Device’s debuff was average at best.

Although it was more than enough against current monsters, it would grow
increasingly weaker as the game progressed. Sooner or later, the Bronze
Magic Device would have to be discarded for something better. And yet,
he had never heard of even a Mysterious-Iron Magic Device possessing
Dual Abilities.

Purely in terms of combat power, the double-Attributed Bronze Magic
Device was stronger than ordinary Mysterious-Iron Magic Devices. Only,
Mysterious-Iron Magic Devices posed more of a threat to a monster’s Mana
Body.

Oh well, one can’t have everything. I’ve already lucked out by
manufacturing a double-Attributed Magic Device. I can’t get too greedy.
Shi Feng quickly shifted his focus, and the more he looked at the Magic
Device in his hand, the more he fell in love with it.

[Magic Device] (Bronze Rank)

Strengthens a weapon, giving it the Basic Vibration effect, Basic
Polarizing effect, and weaken target’s Mana Body by 27%.

Both the Vibration effect and the Polarizing effect were considerably
powerful Additional Abilities among Magic Devices.

The previous Device Shi Feng manufactured only had the Reduced Weight
effect.

However, the Vibration effect could allow a weapon to emit
high-frequency vibrations, allowing it to display astonishing
destructive power with each hit.

Meanwhile, the Polarizing effect could refract light off of weapons,
making it difficult for enemies to predict the weapon’s trajectory and
dodge it effectively.

Originally, among the many Abilities available, these two were only
Intermediate Abilities. However, when these two Abilities were combined,
the overall strength the Magical Device offered increased exponentially.
Not only could the Magic Device make a weapon difficult to dodge, but it
could also give the weapon immense destructive power. The combined
effects of these two Abilities was not the slightest bit inferior to an
Advanced Ability.

Magic Devices of different ranks generated different Abilities.

Normally, Bronze Magic Devices could only generate Basic or Intermediate
Abilities, with the former having a higher chance.

Mysterious-Iron Magic Devices could only generate Basic or Intermediate
Abilities. Only, it had a higher chance of generating an Intermediate
Ability.

Only after reaching Secret-Silver rank could a Magic Device generate an
Advanced Ability. However, the probability was not very high.

Currently, although his Magic Devices was only Bronze rank, it rivaled a
Secret-Silver Magic Device with an Advanced Ability. How could he not
grow excited?

However, this was also the reason for Shi Feng’s disappointment.

Advanced Abilities were extremely rare. Even in the past, Magic Devices
that possessed Advanced Abilities had been as rare as a phoenix’s
feather. The appearance of one usually triggered a rain of blood.

“I wonder what kind of effects it will have after it is equipped?” Shi
Feng could no longer hold back as he impatiently equipped the Magic
Device on the Abyssal Blade.

The moment Shi Feng placed the Magic Device on the Abyssal Blade, the
pale silver orb transformed into a blob of liquid that seeped into the
Magic Weapon. A small alchemy array then appeared on the sword’s hilt.
In the next moment, the alchemy array began to absorb a large amount of
Mana from the surroundings, assimilating it into the Abyssal Blade and
increasing the Magic Weapon’s power.

When Shi Feng swung the Abyssal Blade lightly, he saw the sword split
into three identical blades. With just the naked eye, it was impossible
to tell which sword was the real one.

When the Abyssal Blade passed through a corner of the stone platform,
the blade easily sliced through the dense stone, leaving behind a
surface that was as smooth as a mirror.

“Amazing. If someone else equipped this Magic Device and used it against
me, I think even I would even struggle to block the attack.” Looking at
the stone platform with its missing a corner, Shi Feng was very
surprised.

The Special Forging Room’s stone platform was not an ordinary stone
platform. Normally, even a Magic Weapon could only leave a small
scratch. Now, however, Shi Feng had effortlessly sliced off the
platform’s edge. For a moment there, Shi Feng had even wondered if he
had missed as he had not felt the slightest resistance when the Abyssal
Blade passed through the stone.

If his target had been a Secret-Silver Weapon or a piece of Equipment,
the item might have split in half effortlessly.

Shi Feng even doubted whether a Fine-Gold Weapon could withstand such a
frightening, destructive power.

Currently, expert player’s mainstream weapons were only Fine-Gold rank.
If even Fine-Gold Weapons could not block his attacks, enemy experts
with Fine-Gold Weapons would be tantamount to unarmed noobs. How were
they supposed to face him?

“With this strength, I should be able to try Mount Sogar.”

Although Shi Feng had never been to Mount Sogar before, he was not
unfamiliar with the Top of the World. Now that he had dealt with the
most dangerous part of the journey, all that was left was locating
Solomon’s Treasure.

Weissman had already given him the map, which had been engraved on the
Elemental Core. However, the map was too simple, and he had no idea
where exactly Solomon’s Treasure was. Fortunately, the map did not lead
to a high-leveled area on Mount Sogar. With his current strength, he
should be able to cope with the dangers there.

Following which, Shi Feng tidied up the room and took out the Position
Teleportation Scroll. He intended to head to the Top of the World
immediately.

Suddenly, the sound of a system notification reached his ears,
indicating that Blackie had sent him a message.

Guild Leader, Aqua seems to be having trouble. Please head over to the
Residence in Stone Forest Town quickly.

Shi Feng froze, slightly surprised.

Stone Forest Town had NPC guards to protect it. Unless they wanted to be
banished, the various Guilds would not stir up trouble.

If a Guild were banished from Stone Forest Town, they would no longer
have a place to resupply or repair.

As long as one had a brain, nobody would dare provoke Zero Wing right
now. In fact, they should be afraid of the Guild.

Forget it. Let’s see what’s going on. Shi Feng stored the Position
Teleportation Scroll and took out a Guild Transfer Scroll.

Currently, the Teleportation Magic Array in Stone Forest Town was still
under construction. If players of Zero Wing wished to arrive at Stone
Forest Town quickly, their only option was to use the Guild Transfer
Scroll. After using one, they would have to wait for an hour before they
could use one again. It was far more inconvenient than a teleportation
array. Moreover, the scrolls were not cheap. Ordinary Guild members
would not be willing to use it.

---

Stone Forest Town, inside the reception room of Zero Wing’s Guild
Residence:

At this moment, Aqua Rose wore a very ugly expression, flames of rage
burning in her eyes. Meanwhile, the two people sitting across from Aqua
Rose smiled. Aqua Rose’s anger did not affect them in the slightest.

Of these two people, one was an indifferent-looking middle-aged man,
while the other was a beautiful woman wearing a glamorous purple robe
that revealed a large portion of her cleavage.

If Shi Feng were here right now, he would certainly be surprised.

The indifferent man was none other than Twilight Echo’s Guild Leader,
Glorious Echo.

“Guild Leader Glorious, don’t you think you’re going overboard?” Aqua
Rose asked coldly.

“Overboard? How is this overboard? I am just offering a kind reminder,”
Glorious Echo laughed. “Although you left Twilight Echo, do not forget
that you have yet to dissolve your contract with the Guild. If I sue you
for breach of contract, can you afford the compensation?”

“I’ve already clearly stated that I am only a Vice-Leader of Zero Wing.
I do not have the authority to allow Twilight Echo to construct a Guild
Residence in Stone Forest Town. I have even less authority to give
Twilight Echo half the town,” Aqua Rose growled.

She had wanted to dissolve her contract with Twilight Echo the moment
she first left, but in the end, she had abstained as her family sat on
the Board of Directors of the Guild. However, she never would have
thought that now...

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Chapter 683 - Cooperation?

Although Aqua Rose had been trying to explain, Glorious Echo acted as if
he had not heard a word. With an unsmiling expression, Glorious Echo
said coldly, “The conditions I offered are quite generous. You should
know that, if not for your family, we would never offer the chance to
become a Guild Elder. We also wouldn’t offer triple the price to
purchase your shares of Zero Wing in addition to some of Twilight Echo’s
shares!

“Or are you telling me that you can afford the severance fee?”

As a veteran first-rate Guild, Twilight Echo had very few loopholes in
its management.

In the past, Aqua Rose had been an Honorary Elder of Twilight Echo. With
a considerably high position in the Guild, it had only been natural to
require her to sign a contract with the Guild. She was no exception to
this rule even though her family sat on Twilight Echo’s Board of
Directors.

Now that Aqua Rose had left Twilight Echo and joined another Guild, she
was in severe violation of her contract.

If it were Aqua Rose of the past, the severance fee would not have been
an issue with her family’s backing. Now, however, since Aqua Rose’s
family hoped that she would agree to Glorious Echo’s conditions, they
would not assist with the severance fee.

Since the Divine Colosseum had launched, the price of Magic Crystals
continued to climb by the day. In contrast, however, the increased
availability was insignificant.

As a Regional Dungeon that produced Magic Crystals, various Guilds
throughout God’s Domain targeted the Stoneclaw Mountains.

However, the travel costs for Guilds outside of Star-Moon Kingdom were
ridiculously high. Moreover, without a foothold in the area, these
Guilds, at most, would be left with table scraps.

As the nearest town to the Stoneclaw Mountains, setting aside Stone
Forest Town’s geographical advantage, the Coins and Magic Crystals it
could earn each day was enough to make the various Guilds drool. Only,
Level 150 guards patrolled the town, protecting the Guild that owned it.
At the same time, there were also the NPC guards that Zero Wing’s
members had recruited. Even a Super Guild had to stand by and watch,
helpless against Zero Wing’s defense.

From Twilight Echo’s perspective, Aqua Rose was the only reason Zero
Wing had any power today. Otherwise, it was impossible for a Guild
without any background, financial strength, or nurturing methods to grow
to such a scale within such a short amount of time.

Aqua Rose had initially been an Honorary Elder of Twilight Echo. She was
well-known in the virtual gaming world, yet she had suddenly joined a
nameless and powerless Guild. This Guild must have offered a relatively
high price to recruit her. In addition, with Aqua Rose’s current
importance to Zero Wing, she would undoubtedly wield a massive amount of
authority.

Even giving away 90% of the town’s lands would be well within her
authority, much less allowing Twilight Echo to establish a Guild
Residence in Stone Forest Town.

As long as Twilight Echo obtained Stone Forest Town, the Guild would
have the capital to rise in God’s Domain.

A veteran first-rate Guild had an abundance of manpower. Twilight Echo
was no exception, with an army of elite players held in reserve.
However, it was not easy to nurture a God’s Domain expert. This process
required a large amount of Magic Crystals. If Twilight Echo could claim
Stone Forest Town, then it could farm Magic Crystals, which would then
allow them to nurture a large number of experts. At that time, Twilight
Echo would have much higher chances of emerging victorious in the
competition over the Storm Empire.

Hence, it was a must for Twilight Echo to secure Stone Forest Town.

Listening up to this point, Aqua Rose fell silent.

She had already had enough when her family had forced a marriage upon
her. She had joined Zero Wing and wholeheartedly focused on managing the
Guild, watching it grow slowly, because she wanted to prove her talents
to her family and gain their approval. However, rather than gaining
recognition, she was still treated like a tool.

“Glorious Echo, if you have nothing else to say, you can leave now. You
are not welcome here!” Aqua Rose no longer bothered addressing Glorious
Echo as “Guild Leader,” but referred to him by his character name
instead. She made sure they knew how furious she was.

Since she had joined Zero Wing, she had been very happy. Her time here
was completely different from her time in Twilight Echo. She had learned
many things during her time in the Guild. Counter to other’s beliefs, it
was Zero Wing that had made her stronger, not the other way around.

And they want her to sell out Zero Wing? Not in this lifetime!

Seeing Aqua Rose’s determination, Glorious Echo’s somber expression
darkened.

“Right, I’ve forgotten to introduce this young lady beside me,” Glorious
Echo’s expression suddenly changed. With a smile, he proceeded with the
introduction, “This is Miss Exemplary Willow. She represents Open Source
Corporation and is responsible for the Corporation’s affairs relating to
God’s Domain.”

Exemplary Willow, who wore a purple robe, only smiled in response. She
did not bother to offer a single word. It was as if she looked down on
Aqua Rose.

“Why is someone from Open Source Corporation here?!” Aqua Rose’s shock
was obvious.

Open Source Corporation was a Global 500 company. Moreover, it ranked
very close to the top. To the Corporation, Twilight Echo was like an ant
that it could squeeze to death at any given moment. They were from
completely different worlds.

“You might not realize this, but Open Source Corporation has already
invested in Twilight Echo, becoming the Guild’s largest shareholder.
Although your parents were strongly opposed to the plan, their efforts
were useless,” Glorious Echo sneered. “If our talks for cooperation fail
today, I believe that Miss Willow will be quite disappointed. If Miss
Willow is unhappy, Open Source Corporation might accidentally take
everything from you and your family. So, I think you should consider
your options carefully before you speak.”

So, that’s their game. Aqua Rose immediately came to a realization, a
self-deprecating smile appearing on her face.

It was no wonder why her family had not opposed the Guild’s decision.

It would be child’s play for Open Source Corporation to suppress her
family’s business. Facing such a monstrosity, her family would have no
choice but to lower their heads.

“This is your best and only option. Why must you make life difficult for
yourself?” Glorious Echo advised softly. “Besides, we’re not just taking
Stone Forest Town’s land for granted. We are offering your Guild Leader
a satisfactory price. If you can persuade him to hand over Stone Forest
Town, then I assure you that, not only will you become a Director of
Twilight Echo, but Black Flame will also receive shares of the Guild and
become a Director with you. With OSC’s investment, Zero Wing will
quickly become the number one Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom. Wouldn’t this
be a better result?”

Taking a deep breath, Aqua Rose said resolutely, “Glorious Echo, stop
dreaming. I will never agree to your offer.”

She would never betray the Guild.

Although she felt sorry for her family, she believed that, by relying on
her own abilities, even if her family’s business went under, she could
help her family flourish even more than before.

“Good, very good!” Glorious Echo applauded. However, his expression
while doing so was exceptionally grim. With a chilling tone, he said,
“Since you do not know what’s good for you, I’ll move this discussion to
your Guild Leader. I believe he will be far more understanding. You
better not regret your decision.”

No Guild could ignore the temptation of receiving OSC’s investments. As
long as Black Flame was a reasonable man, he would beg to have Open
Source Corporation become the major shareholder of Zero Wing.

“Are you looking for me?”

At this moment, Shi Feng pushed open the doors, smirking wickedly as he
slowly entered the room.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 684 - You Are Not Qualified

“Guild Leader.”

Startled, Aqua Rose turned to Shi Feng; guilt and embarrassment were
written across her face.

Glorious Echo was also momentarily stunned. He had never expected Zero
Wing’s Guild Leader to actually appear. He quickly recovered, smiled,
and introduced himself, “Good day, Guild Leader Black Flame. I am
Twilight Echo’s Guild Leader, Glorious Echo. This is Miss Exemplary
Willow, Open Source Corporation’s God’s Domain Representative.”

Having been unprepared for Shi Feng’s sudden appearances, Glorious Echo
intended to use Exemplary Willow’s identity to frighten Shi Feng a
little.

Meanwhile, Exemplary Willow only glanced at Shi Feng indifferently. It
was obvious that she was not interested in a conversation between ants.
Rather, her interest in Aqua Rose grew.

Without much effort, one could predict this conversation’s outcome.

OSC was a major, international corporation. It was also a giant in New
Energy trading. Its industries covered the entire world. Now that the
corporation was moving on God’s Domain, there were countless people
desperately trying to show off, vying for the corporation’s attention.

An upstart Guild like Zero Wing would definitely react in the same way.

Only, Aqua Rose’s decision had surprised her slightly.

Facing such pressure and temptation, Aqua Rose remain unmoved. Having an
assistant like Aqua Rose by her side could be quite valuable.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng was unaffected by Glorious Echo’s introduction.
Calmly, he asked, “May I know what business Guild Leader Glorious has
with me?”

Regarding OSC’s financing of Twilight Echo, Shi Feng had expected this
due to his memories of his previous life.

He was not at all surprised by this revelation.

He even knew plenty of major secrets that OSC had yet to discover.

Shi Feng’s cool reaction unsettled Glorious Echo a little.

Upon hearing the name “Open Source Corporation,” any Guild in God’s
Domain would introduce themselves carefully to win Exemplary Willow’s
favor. Yet, without offering a single greeting, Shi Feng forged ahead
and asked for the reason behind his visit...

Does he not know about OSC? Glorious Echo was inwardly stunned.
Immediately, he said, “Guild Leader Black Flame, Open Source Corporation
is a major, international corporation. The Corporation has both funding
and connections in abundance. Currently, the Corporation has taken a
liking to Stone Forest Town and wishes to purchase it. Hence, we’ve
sought out Aqua to discuss the conditions of the purchase. Since Guild
Leader Black Flame has made a personal appearance, our negotiations will
be much simpler.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, state your price. As long as it is
appropriate, I believe that OSC will agree to your terms.”

Exemplary Willow nodded in conjunction with Glorious Echo’s words.

Although she had just come into contact with God’s Domain, she already
had a relatively good understanding of Stone Forest Town’s importance.
She had to admit that it was surprising that a mere upstart Guild had
obtained such a town.

“I see,” Shi Feng laughed. He then looked at Glorious Echo, saying,
“Then, Guild Leader Glorious, you may leave now.”

“Huh?” Glorious Echo was momentarily stunned. “What do you mean, Guild
Leader Black Flame?”

“Isn’t OSC looking for me to discuss Stone Forest Town?” Shi Feng
countered with a question. “Then, why are you still here, Guild Leader
Glorious?”

Glorious Echo sputtered, utterly speechless.

From the side, Aqua Rose could not help but giggle.

To her family, OSC was the largest source of pressure, not Glorious
Echo. If she could settle a deal with the Corporation, she could relieve
that pressure on her family.

“Miss Willow has only recently been introduced to virtual reality games,
and there are still many things she does not understand. As the Leader
of the Guild under the Corporation’s management and someone who
possesses a wealth of experience regarding the virtual gaming world, it
is my responsibility to help Miss Willow with the negotiations,”
Glorious Echo explained coldly.

“Since that is the case, I’ll just tell you my price for Stone Forest
Town,” Shi Feng laughed. Raising his index finger, he said, “I’ll take a
little loss on this trade and settle for 10% of Open Source
Corporation’s shares.”

As Shi Feng’s words fell, the room became utterly silent.

Aqua Rose’s little mouth hung open as she stared at Shi Feng.

His demand had gone beyond greedy. This was outright insane!

Meanwhile, Glorious Echo as well had thought he had misheard for a
moment.

As for Exemplary Willow, she snapped her frosty gaze towards Shi Feng.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, your joke is not funny at all,” Glorious Echo
said in a somber tone.

Even 1% of Open Source Corporation’s shares could purchase multiple Zero
Wings, much less 10%.

“Why do you say that, Guild Leader Glorious?” Pointing at Stone Forest
Town through the window, Shi Feng said earnestly, “Stone Forest Town is
the nearest town to the Stoneclaw Mountains. Meanwhile, the Stoneclaw
Mountains is a Dungeon rich with Magic Crystals. I don’t believe I need
to inform you of this item’s importance. Since you wish to purchase
Stone Forest Town, this would be equivalent to cutting off Zero Wing’s
path of development. I only want a few Open Source Corporation’s shares,
so how is that excessive?

“Since Guild Leader Glorious doesn’t qualify to make this decision,
please look for someone who does to speak with me. You should know that
I am a very busy man. If I make an appointment with every random nobody
to discuss business, I won’t even have any time to rest.”

Insulted, Glorious Echo’s vision went red as he even considered Shi
Feng’s murder.

Shi Feng had actually dared to humiliate him publicly, calling him a
“random nobody!” Even Super Guilds were not so bold!

Meanwhile, Aqua Rose could not hold back her laughter.

The Guild Leader of the almighty Twilight Echo had actually been
humiliated to the point where he could not offer even a word of
retaliation. This was the first time Aqua Rose had seen such an ashen
expression on Glorious Echo’s face. This comic moment relieved much of
her pent-up frustration.

However, Aqua Rose realized that Shi Feng was currently venting for her,
and her heart could not help but warm at this sight.

“Guild Leader Black Flame, are you being serious?” Finally, Exemplary
Willow spoke. However, her tone was extraordinarily cold. She could not
believe that the Guild Leader of such a tiny Guild would actually dare
to underestimate OSC.

Although Exemplary Willow had not said anything threatening, the room’s
atmosphere grew heavy with tension. Even Aqua Rose struggled to breathe.

This was the aura of someone who had always stood at the top of the
world. Despite being unimaginably weak, she could still make a top-tier
expert like Aqua Rose feel anxious.

If Shi Feng answered poorly...

The consequences would be unimaginable.

At this moment, Aqua Rose was somewhat regretful. She should have
stopped Shi Feng. At the very least, she could have prevented this.

However, as if Shi Feng was without a care in the world, he nodded
leisurely and responded, “Of course. I am always a man of my word.”

Although Shi Feng was not loud, everyone in the room could hear him
clearly.

Insane!

This person was insane!

Glorious Echo’s previous anger vanished, replaced by shock. With
astonished eyes, he stared at Shi Feng.

Shi Feng had just intentionally provoked an international corporation
just to help Aqua Rose get revenge.

Just how ignorant must one be to carry out such an action?

“Very well. I will convey your price to my superior,” Exemplary Willow
said indifferently. She then turned to Glorious Echo, commanding, “Let’s
go.”

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 685 - New Continent

After Exemplary Willow and Glorious Echo left....

The tension in the room evaporated. However, Aqua Rose still wallowed in
her guilt.

Exemplary Willow’s eyes as she departed had reflected her inner anger
clearly. This matter definitely would not be resolved so easily.

“Thank you,” Aqua Rose muttered as she watched Shi Feng, who maintained
his usual calm, with grateful eyes.

She was no fool.

Although Shi Feng’s actions had seemed foolish, she knew that he had
been helping her.

Initially, OSC’s had focused on Aqua Rose, and it would not let her, or
her family, off the hook for her refusal to cooperate. However, Shi Feng
had come forth and provoked OSC intentionally, shifting the
Corporation’s hatred towards himself. This way, the Corporation would
not bother targeting her and her family.

If this were any other Guild, none of them would willingly make an enemy
of OSC for a single Guild member.

In response, Shi Feng simply laughed and said, “Forget about managing
the affairs of Stone Forest Town for now and focus on leveling up and
improving yourself. I’ll have Melancholic manage the town for the time
being.” He was not the slightest bit worried about what had just
happened.

“But OSC...”

Aqua Rose understood that Shi Feng was letting her distance herself from
the dispute this time. This way, she would not attract Open Source’s
attention.

However, she was the main instigator of this issue. She couldn’t just
watch the situation play out from a safe distance.

“Don’t worry about it. Stone Forest Town is simply too valuable. Even
without Twilight Echo and Open Source, there will be other Guilds and
corporations wanting a piece of the pie.” Shi Feng could see Aqua Rose’s
guild. However, things were not as simple as she thought. “In Star-Moon
Kingdom, there has yet to be a single power capable of taking Stone
Forest City from us. What do we have to fear?”

The intense competition in God’s Domain far surpassed every virtual
reality game before it.

Although Shi Feng did not know the reason for God’s Domain’s popularity,
as someone who had experienced it before, he was fully aware of the
dangers that came with taking over Stone Forest Town. And sooner or
later, these dangers would erupt. Hence, rather than sitting still and
waiting for their deaths, they might as well take the initiative to land
the first blow.

Even so, he had not expected to start a war with the Open Source
Corporation.

Fortunately, Open Source’s economic influence would have little effect
on him. If the Corporation wished to deal with him, they had to do so
through God’s Domain.

However, God’s Domain was his home ground. It would not be so easy for
Open Source obtain victory.

Both the Guild and I need to grow stronger as quickly as possible. Shi
Feng’s hunger for obtaining Solomon’s Treasure increased.

If Solomon’s Treasure was related to Solomon’s Sword, he might actually
be able to get his hands on the Legendary Weapon.

With his current strength, his effect in a massive war between Guilds
was limited. Against an alliance of multiple Guilds, he was
insignificant. However, if he had Solomon’s Sword, he could attempt to
replicate Mage God Gaia’s achievement of hunting and butchering the
various large Guilds.

Following which, Shi Feng passed on Stone Forest Town’s management to
Melancholic Smile and Blackie while Aqua Rose led the Dark Gods Legion
to grind in the Stoneclaw Mountains.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng retrieved a few Magic Scrolls and lifesaving items
from the Guild Warehouse. He then traveled to the Top of the World to
complete his quest.

In reality, the Top of the World was a new continent with a very high
altitude.

The map engraved on the Elemental Core showed that Solomon’s Treasure
was hidden on Mount Sogar, one of this new continent’s regions.

Fortunately, Mount Sogar was not a very high-level region. It was only a
Level 40 to Level 60 map. Although Shi Feng was only Level 32, with the
top-tier equipment he had, it was not impossible to explore the place.

In the snow-covered forest around Mount Sogar, space suddenly ruptured.
In the next moment, a pitch-black figure jumped out of the spatial
crack.

“Is this the Top of the World?”

Shi Feng took a deep breath as he observed his surroundings. The air was
extremely thin here. Moreover, the gravitational pull was intense; the
gravity here was at least 3 g. The temperature was also below 20 degrees
Celsius. The environment was harsh.

After God’s Domain underwent its third evolution, the Gravitational
System was only one part of the system upgrade. Air density and
temperature would also affect a player’s combat power.

The effect of temperature on players was not significant as players only
needed to acquire some Resistance to counteract the effects. As long as
one had 20 points of Ice Resistance, they would not find the low
temperature uncomfortable. If one could not withstand the cold, they
also had the option of wearing some warm clothing. The thin air,
however, would impact a player’s combat power significantly. In a
low-oxygen environment, the more players fought, the more rapidly they
would burn through their Stamina.

Players without Stamina had no combat capabilities at all. In other
words, players would not be able to fight for a long time in a
low-oxygen environment. It was highly possible that they would lose the
ability to fight in the middle of a battle.

“Grauu!”

The powerful soundwaves immediately attracted the attention of the
nearby Wild Beasts. A moment later, these Wild Beasts answered with
their own deafening roars.

[Snow Lion] (Wild Beast, Elite Rank)

Level 42

HP 180,000/180,000

At this moment, a total of five, white-furred Snow Lions appeared around
Shi Feng, surrounding him, their amber eyes radiating a fierce
bloodlust.

These monsters sure are powerful. Despite being only Elite rank, their
bloodlust is so strong. This place really isn’t meant for ordinary
players. Shi Feng chuckled as he unsheathed the Abyssal Blade.

If any other expert stood in his place right now, the Snow Lions would
likely devour them. Fortunately, Shi Feng was no ordinary expert.

“Grauu!”

At the sound of a low roar, a Snow Lion dashed forward and bit down at
Shi Feng. Almost as if they had planned their attack, the other four
Lions took the opportunity to circle to Shi Feng’s back.

“Scram!”

Shi Feng struck at the Snow Lion’s head, the Abyssal Blade colliding
with one of the monster’s fangs.

Dang!

“So tough!”

Shi Feng felt his hand go numb when the Abyssal Blade stuck the Snow
Lion’s fang.

However, the Snow Lion that attacked Shi Feng had not fared any better
than Shi Feng as the impact sent it flying. Its ivory fang also sported
a deep gash. The Abyssal Blade had nearly chopped off the Snow Lion’s
fang.

However, the Snow Lion only suffered -424 damage from the attack. To its
180,000 HP, that damage was practically negligible.

Shi Feng then spun and sent a slash to his back, the black streak of
light slashing at the four oncoming Snow Lions. The Snow Lions’ hides
were far more tender than their fangs. Very easily, the Abyssal Blade
sliced through the Lions’ hides, leaving behind a bone-deep gash.
However, the attack only dealt slightly more than -1,200 damage to each
of the four Lions.

“Why is their Defense so high?!” Shi Feng was surprised.

Previously, seeing as his attack had landed on the Snow Lion’s fang, he
thought the low damage was reasonable. However, even after his blade bit
into the monsters’ flesh, he had only managed to deal over -1,200
damage. These Snow Lions’ Defense was stronger than even a Great Lord.

“Do all monsters here have such high Defense?” Shi Feng muttered,
feeling a slight headache begin to brew.

These Snow Lions were only Elite monsters. If he encountered a Chieftain
or Lord, how was he supposed to defeat them?

He had already equipped the Abyssal Blade with a Magic Device. Without
the Device, his damage would most likely be much lower.

After Shi Feng managed to repel four Snow Lions with a single attack,
the Lions began to roar.

“Grauu!”

The sound of their deafening roars was powerful enough to echo over a
thousand meters.

“What are they trying to do?

“Are they trying to scare me?”

Shi Feng could not help but smirk at the roaring Snow Lions. None of
them showed any signs of attacking at this moment.

However, just as Shi Feng intended to finish these monsters off, he
detected movement in the surrounding forest. The ground began to
tremble, and soon, he noticed the towering trees fall, one after
another. Suddenly, a massive Snow Lion that stood over five meters tall
emerge from the forest, a long, sharp horn protruding from his forehead.

[One-horn Lion King] (Wild Beast, Lord Rank)

Level 45

HP 4,000,000/4,000,000

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Chapter 686 - Tattered Old Treasure Chest

“They summoned a companion?” Shi Feng frowned as he saw the Lord ranked
One-horn Lion King.

Monsters at the Top of the World were already much stronger than
monsters one normally found in Star-Moon Kingdom. In addition to the
environmental effects, dealing with these monsters would be quite
challenging.

In the current God’s Domain, there had yet to be a single player capable
of soloing the Level 45 Lord ranked One-horn Lion King.

Even if Shi Feng activated Twofold Berserk, he would not have a shred of
hope of defeating the Level 45 Lord.

Aside from its 4,000,000 HP, Shi Feng also had no information on the
Boss’s Skills. If it summoned another Lord, it would even be difficult
to escape with his life.

The One-horn Lion King gave Shi Feng no opportunity to consider his
situation. Lifting one of its massive paws, the Lion King suddenly
transformed into an afterimage as it dashed towards Shi Feng like a gust
of wind; its speed could match Shi Feng’s when he had Windwalk
activated. It took only an instant for the massive Lion King to cross
more than 20 yards, its paws sending dirt and snow into the air.

So much destructive power. Shi Feng immediately used Abyssal Bind, not
daring to be careless.

After the Abyssal Blade had evolved, all of its Skills had reached
Tier 1. A Lord ranked monster was the equivalent of a Tier 2 class. With
only a difference of one Tier, Abyssal Bind could exert a large fraction
of its effects.

Xiu... Xiu... Xiu...

Twelve pitch-black chains appeared out of thin air, instantly binding
the One-horn Lion King’s limbs, forcing the Lord to halt its charge. The
Lion King bellowed in rage as it struggled against its bindings.

If Shi Feng had taken on this fight before the Abyssal Blade had
evolved, the One-horn Lion King would have easily freed itself from
Abyssal Bind. However, no matter how much strength it exerted, it could
not move an inch. The most it managed was cause the chains to tremble
slightly. Although the chains showed signs of breaking, it would still
be some time before they would shatter.

“I can finally use Abyssal Bind again.”

Shi Feng was quite satisfied with this outcome. The stronger the monster
was, the weaker the effects of Abyssal Bind would become. Hence, he
rarely used Abyssal Bind in his fights anymore. Now that the Skill had
regained its usefulness, he would have another card against powerful
monsters.

However, Shi Feng did not dare to tarry any longer as he activated
Windwalk and fled.

Initially, Abyssal Bind could prevent a target from moving for four
seconds. Against the One-horn Lion King, however, he’d be lucky if the
Skill lasted two seconds. If utilized properly, he could put quite some
distance between himself and the Lord.

Sure enough, two seconds after Shi Feng activated Abyssal Bind, the
One-horn Lion King broke free from its restraints. Without hesitation,
the Lion King chased after its prey.

Like so, one man and one beast ran through the snowy forest.

Although Shi Feng had attracted the attention of several monsters during
his escape, he easily threw them off with his speed.

The only monster he could not shake off was the One-horn Lion King.
Fortunately, the Lion King was not a speed-type Lord. After activating
Windwalk, Shi Feng’s speed was roughly equal to the Lion King’s. Hence,
the Lion King could not close the distance he had created during his
two-second head start.

It won’t do to continue running like this. I haven’t seen any
flying-type monsters so far, so it should be fine to use Wind Rider.
While Shi Feng fled, he searched for any movement in the air.

The ability to fly was a massive advantage against monsters. However, as
players reached higher levels, many high-level maps would also contain
flying-type monsters. If players encountered such a monster, escape
would not be an option. They either defeated the flying monster chasing
after them or said monster claimed their life. It would take a miracle
to escape from a flying monster.

The Top of the World was known for being an area that only experts could
challenge. One would find it difficult to survive even the low-level
regions of this place.

Fortunately, Shi Feng also had the Seven Luminaries Ring. He considered
himself to be someone who was quite good at escaping.

However, even Shi Feng did not dare to use his Skills at the Top of the
World casually as a single misuse might get him killed.

After confirming that he saw no threat above him, Shi Feng activated
Wind Rider and soared into the sky. Meanwhile, the One-horn Lion King
could only roar in frustration as it watched its prey escape its
clutches.

Although Shi Feng was only Level 32, the 220% increase in Movement Speed
that Wind Rider provided made him faster than even a Level 45 Lord.

The location marked on the Elemental Core showed that Solomon’s Treasure
was in Mount Sogar’s core area. Taking advantage of Wind Rider’s
effects, Shi Feng flew towards the map’s core.

As Wind Rider only had a duration of 24 seconds, but a Cooldown of 2
minutes, Shi Feng was forced to stop every once in a while during his
flight.

Shi Feng did not have the courage to brave the path on foot.

During his 24 seconds in the air, he had spotted at least three Lord
ranked monsters. In addition, there were also plenty of Chieftains and
Elites roaming around the snowy forest. Even if he used an Isolation
Scroll, he would not escape detection from so many powerful monsters.

After more than an hour of flying and hiding, Shi Feng arrived at the
base of Mount Sogar’s core area.

Luckily, I can fly. Otherwise, I really might not have made it here
alive. Shi Feng could not help but inwardly celebrate as he looked at
the snowy forest at the foot of the mountain.

On his way here, aside from Lords, Shi Feng had even spotted a Level 50
Great Lord.

With Shi Feng’s current standards, without flight, he would never escape
a Great Lord.

After arriving at the foot of the mountain, Shi Feng refused to use Wind
Rider to fly up the mountain itself.

The top of the mountain was flying-type monsters’ territory. If he
accidentally caught the attention of one of these monsters, he would be
in trouble big-time.

Following which, Shi Feng used an Isolation Scroll and carefully
proceeded along the stone steps up the mountain.

After arriving at Mount Sogar’s heart, the monsters he encountered were
Level 50 at the very minimum. Shi Feng was merely Level 32. With such a
huge difference in levels, monsters could easily perceive his presence
from a long distance away. Although he could reduce his presence with an
Isolation Scroll, if he wanted to avoid detection, he would still have
to maintain a distance of roughly 80 yards from these monsters.
Fortunately, that distance was still well within his range of sight, so
he could easily hide.

The path up Mount Sogar was very narrow and surrounded by steep cliffs.
Not only was it very difficult to hike up the mountain, but there were
also groups of Stone Apes patrolling the path. Unfortunately, there was
only a single path up the mountain.

[Stone Ape] (Elemental Being, Elite Rank)

Level 50

HP 300,000/300,000

By itself, the Stone Ape was no threat to Shi Feng. In fact, he could
easily handle three or four of these Elite Stone Apes simultaneously.
However, when a Stone Ape Guard accompanied the group, the situation was
largely different.

[Stone Ape Guard] (Elemental Being, Chieftain Rank)

Level 50

HP 2,800,000/2,800,000

On his way up the mountain, in order to avoid the patrolling Stone Apes,
Shi Feng hurriedly hid inside a small cave on the steep hillside.

“Oh? A Secret-Silver Treasure Chest!” A light shone in Shi Feng’s eyes.

The small cave was only the size of a room. Meanwhile, a tattered
Treasure Chest sat in the deepest part of the cave, giving off a faint
silver glow from on top of a thorn- and moss-covered stone platform.

In God’s Domain, even Common Treasure Chests were a rare sight, not to
mention Secret-Silver ranked ones.

The loot one could obtain from a Secret-Silver Treasure Chest was much
better than even the loot from a Lord ranked Boss.

He was truly lucky to stumble upon one by accident shortly after
arriving at Mount Sogar.

However, as a precautionary measure, Shi Feng activated Omniscient Eyes
to search for traps inside the cave.

In the past, countless players had lost their lives by triggering a trap
due to their momentary excitement of discovering a Treasure Chest.

Under the probing of Omniscient Eyes, Shi Feng noticed a magical
fluctuation from beside the stone platform. Taking a closer look, he
discovered a magic array carved into the cave wall. Only, the thorns and
moss covering the wall had obscured the magic array. Fortunately, under
the perception of Omniscient Eyes, these simple obstructions were no
different than transparent glass.

“Sure enough, there’s a magical trap.” Shi Feng laughed as he activated
Phantom Kill.

He then had his doppelganger stand at the cave’s entrance while he ran
towards the Treasure Chest.

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Chapter 687 - Tier 3 Magic Scroll

There were many types of traps in God’s Domain, and any one of these
traps could finish a player off easily.

The simplest traps were the ordinary, physical traps. Most players could
resolve these traps.

A slightly more advanced trap was a magical trap. Even experts could
lose their lives to these traps if they were not careful.

The most advanced traps were challenge traps. When triggered, challenge
traps would seal players inside a barrier. Players were then required to
undergo a challenge, and only after they cleared the challenge would
they obtain the reward.

Although challenge traps were the most advanced of the three types, the
former two were the most fatal when triggered. After all, players could
simply choose to ignore the treasure if they did not wish to risk their
lives, whereas the other two types would not offer players such a
luxury. Hence, the physical and magical traps claimed the most lives.

Meanwhile, classes like the Assassin possessed Skills to disarm traps.

Hence, most solo Assassins could get by just fine in God’s Domain.

Although Shi Feng was a Swordsman without any Disarm Skills, he had
Magic Scrolls that could do the job. This item had a very low drop rate.
Moreover, it was only capable of disarming magical traps and challenge
traps. Even with Zero Wing’s strength, the Guild had only managed to
obtain slightly over 20 scrolls. Before coming to Mount Sogar, Shi Feng
packed five of these Magic Scrolls with him. Although, he had not
expected to use one so soon.

Walking up to the stone platform, Shi Feng did not hurry to open the
Treasure Chest. Rather, he cleared away the thorns and moss covering the
stone platform. He then took out a silvery-gray scroll, unfurling it and
chanting the incantation recorded within.

This silver-gray scroll was none other than a Tier 1 Disarm Scroll. It
was capable of disarming all magical and challenge traps of Fine-Gold
rank and below Treasure Chests. However, the precondition was to locate
the trap’s activation array. Otherwise, the scroll would be useless.

As the Disarm Scroll activated, gray smoke seeped into the trap’s
activation array. The Mana within the activation array then began to
corrode. Without any Mana to power the activation array, the magical
trap could no longer be triggered.

“I wonder what items I will find this time?” Shi Feng shifted his gaze
towards the Secret-Silver Treasure Chest once more.

Exchanging a Tier 1 Magic Scroll for a Secret-Silver Treasure Chest was
a very profitable trade.

Moreover, he was in one of the maps at the Top of the World. This area
was untouched by players thus far. In other words, the Treasure Chests
throughout the Top of the World had yet to be opened even once. Their
loot would naturally be somewhat more abundant. This was a similar
phenomenon to obtaining the First Clear of the Dungeon, whereby the end
rewards would be slightly buffed.

However, Shi Feng still did not hurry to open the Treasure Chest. He
first activated Divine Providence.

Immediately, his Luck increased by an additional 32 points for 30
seconds.

Only now did Shi Feng open the Treasure Chest.

Following which, a loading bar appeared above the Treasure Chest,
filling gradually. Twenty seconds were required to open the
Secret-Silver Treasure Chest.

The activation time for this one sure is abnormally long. Shi Feng was a
little concerned when he saw the required activation time.

A Treasure Chest’s activation time usually ranged from 3 to 10 seconds.
Even Secret-Silver Treasure Chests didn’t usually require as long as 20
seconds.

The seconds ticked by slowly.

After the long and arduous 20 seconds, the tattered old Treasure Chest
audibly clicked before its lid gradually opened. In the next moment, an
array of colors escaped the Treasure Chest, illuminating the entire
cave.

“There are so many items inside!”

After the rainbow brilliance dissipated, the Secret-Silver Treasure
Chest’s contents were on full display before Shi Feng. Items filled the
entire chest. This was definitely the fullest Treasure Chest Shi Feng
had ever seen in his life.

He spotted more than ten Tier 3 Gemstones alone. There was also a large
number of Magic Crystals and Silver Coins.

There were even three weapons and equipment inside the chest.

These items were all Level 50.

Level 50 was considered a major milestone in God’s Domain. Although part
of the reason was that players could apply for their Tier 2 classes at
this level, it was mainly due to the difference in equipment.

Level 50 equipment was a lot stronger than Level 45 equipment.

Originally, the Attributes on a piece of Level 40 Secret-Silver
Equipment was roughly the equivalent of a piece of Level 45
Mysterious-Iron Equipment. Only, the latter had slightly higher Defense.
However, the Attributes on Level 45 Secret-Silver Equipment were only
the equivalent of Level 50 Bronze Equipment. That was a difference of
two ranks.

Because of this, the Attribute gap between players widened
significantly.

However, after reaching Level 50, players would quickly discover that
high-quality Level 50 weapons and equipment would become far more
difficult to obtain. Moreover, the number of weapons and equipment that
dropped from Dungeons would decrease significantly.

Nowadays, ordinary players could collect a full set of Bronze Equipment
so long as they put in the required effort. Many might even have a few
pieces of Mysterious-Iron Equipment mixed into their sets. However, an
ordinary Level 50 player walking around in a full set of Level 50 Bronze
Equipment would be an impressive feat. Even Level 50 Mysterious-Iron
Equipment would be rarely seen on a Guild’s normal members. Only elite
Guild members could barely scrape together a full set of Mysterious-Iron
Equipment. One could just imagine how difficult it was to obtain Level
50 equipment of high quality.

Currently, of the three pieces of Level 50 equipment inside the Treasure
Chest, two were Secret-Silver rank, and one was Fine-Gold rank. He had
truly hit the jackpot this time.

However, the item that demanded Shi Feng’s attention was a pale-gold
scroll.

Even though the scroll sat quietly inside the chest, the frightening
amount of Mana radiated distorted the surrounding Mana. If the scroll
were activated, who knew what kind of power it could display?

This was an effect that only Tier 3 Magic Scrolls or above could
display.

Tier 4 Magic Scrolls were as rare as a phoenix’s feather throughout
God’s Domain. If sold, it could fetch for an astronomical price.
However, nobody would be so foolish as to actually sell a Tier 4 Magic
Scroll. Meanwhile, although Tier 3 Magic Scrolls could not compete with
Tier 4 Magic Scrolls in terms of rarity, each scroll was still
considered a strategic item to a Guild. Outside of an emergency, Guilds
would never consider using their Tier 3 Magic Scrolls.

“I wonder what kind of Tier 3 Spell it contains?” Shi Feng eagerly
picked up the pale-gold scroll and examined it.

[Magic Amplification Scroll] (Tier 3 Magic Scroll)

Forcibly upgrades the Tier of a Skill by 1 Tier up to a maximum of Tier
3.

Cooldown: 1 hour

Uses remaining: 30

After reading the introduction, Shi Feng was momentarily stunned.

A Magic Amplification Scroll was no less valuable than an Epic item.

To ordinary players, this scroll could forcibly improve their Skills by
a single Tier. This scroll could provide a miraculous impact if used at
a critical moment.

For example, in a battle between two players who could both use only
Tier 1 Skills, if the losing player could suddenly amplify one of their
Skills to Tier 2, it could turn the tide of battle.

When fighting Bosses, the control effects of a Tier 1 Skill was
incredibly limited. However, the skill would display a marked difference
at Tier 2.

And yet, this was still not the Magic Amplification Scroll’s greatest
function.

Its true purpose lay in summoning!

It was particularly useful to the Summoner class. A Tier 1 Summoner
could, at most, summon a Tier 1 monster to fight for them. After using
Magic Amplification on their Skills, however, they could summon Tier 2
monsters. As for Tier 2 Summoners, they could summon Tier 3 monsters.

A Tier 3 monster was the equivalent of the Great Lord rank...

Whether it was out in the fields, a Dungeon, or a PvP battle, having a
Great Lord ranked monster by one’s side would provide massive
advantages. One such monster could easily decimate an army of ten
thousand players.

Although I’m not a Summoner, I have the Bible of Darkness. I wonder if
the Magic Amplification Scroll will have any effect on it? When Shi Feng
thought about the possibility of summoning a Tier 3 Demon, he could not
help but grow excited.

If he could summon a Tier 3 Demon, he would have a much easier time
searching for Solomon’s Treasure.

With the assistance of a Tier 3 Demon, he could easily defeat even a
group of Chieftain ranked Stone Ape Guards.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 688 - Tier 3 Overlord

Setting aside the Tier 3 Magic Scroll, Shi Feng stored the remaining
items from the Treasure Chest in his bag. He then carefully took out the
Bible of Darkness.

“You must succeed.” Shi Feng was not absolutely confident in being able
to summon a Tier 3 Demon.

After all, the Bible of Darkness was a Fragmented Legendary item.

It was not an easy task to upgrade the Skill of a Fragmented Legendary
item. Even with a Tier 3 Magic Scroll, the likelihood of success was
low.

Unfurling the Magic Amplification Scroll, Shi Feng began to chant its
incantation.

Suddenly, the Mana in the cave went berserk. An endless stream of Mana
surged into the cave from outside, increasing the density within the
cave to the point where it was visible to the naked eye. The dense Mana
took the form of a multicolored haze that filled the cave, creating a
beautiful sight.

Such dense Mana!

Shi Feng had become the heart of the cave as Mana surged into his body,
forming a massive vortex.

“Emerge, Demon Gate!” Shi Feng activated Demon Summoning.

Rumble...

Suddenly, the cave began to tremble. In the blink of an eye, a massive
pair of gates suddenly appeared out of thin air. This gate was twice as
large as those that appeared when he summoned Tier 2 Demons. Shi Feng
even struggled to move under the intense pressure this gate emitted.

Did I succeed? Shi Feng could not help his growing excitement as he
watched the Demon Gate.

The combination of the Magic Amplification Scroll and the Bible of
Darkness... If he could put this combination to use in a Guild War, it
would definitely turn the tides of battle.

Regardless of the time or location, a Great Lord ranked monster was a
massive threat to a player, not to mention a Great Lord that was under
an enemy player’s control. The threat level of such a Great Lord would
be increased by at least tenfold.

As the Demon Gate slowly opened, a humanoid Demon wearing crimson scale
armor and wielding a pitch-black war axe hovered out of the darkness.
However, although the Demon had the shape of a human, it was much
larger. The Demon stood over three meters tall and had a pair of
blood-red wings that allowed it to hover above the ground.

“Such a weak little ant actually dares to summon me, the Purgatory
Demon?” the Purgatory Demon snarled, ridicule flashing its blood-red
eyes as it looked down on Shi Feng. With a single flap of its wings, the
Purgatory Demon crossed the distance of ten yards in an instant, its
speed surpassing even that of a Great Lord. The Demon then swung its war
axe down towards Shi Feng. “Die!”

The pitch-black war axe suddenly emitted intense shockwaves,
destabilizing the surrounding space.

As the war axe descended, Shi Feng suddenly discovered that he could not
move...

This is the Tier 3 Taboo Skill, Spatial Suppression! Shi Feng was
aghast.

He had never imagined that the Demon he summoned would be so powerful.

There were many kinds of Tier 3 Demons. Moreover, Tier 3 Demons
possessed very high intellect, so there was a small number who could
learn Tier 3 Taboo Skills. Among Tier 3 Demons, these individuals were
warlord-level existences.

Shi Feng was only a Tier 1 class. He had no hope of breaking free from
the suppression of the Tier 3 Taboo Skill. He could not even use a
Skill. He could only watch as the massive war axe descended on him.

Boom!

When the pitch-black war axe landed, the impact destroyed the entire
cave.

“Hahaha! Such a weakling also dares to use the Bible of Darkness? With
this, the Bible of Darkness now belongs to me,” the hovering Purgatory
Demon could not help but laugh.

However, its laughter was short-lived as a serious expression suddenly
appeared on the Demon’s face, its gaze focused on the ruins before it.

“Why are you still alive?!” the Purgatory Demon stared in shock as it
watched Shi Feng slowly climb out of the rubble.

Shi Feng looked somewhat miserable as his entire body was covered in
dust. However, his HP was still full; he had not received any damage
from the Purgatory Demon’s attack.

“As expected of a Tier 3 Demon. If I hadn’t used Phantom Kill as a
precaution for the magical trap, that hit really would have killed me,”
Shi Feng said, smiling as he turned to the hovering Purgatory Demon
while dusting himself.

The instant the Purgatory Demon had appeared, Shi Feng had noticed that
he could not control it completely. Hence, he had immediately activated
the Replace Skill, trading places with his doppelganger while he hid at
the cave’s entrance. However, the shockwaves from the Demon’s Tier 3
Taboo Skill had still affected him. Fortunately, he was able to activate
Defensive Blade in time, blocking the incoming damage.

“Lucky ant. But you won’t be so lucky the next time,” the Purgatory
Demon revealed a sinister expression as it swung its massive waraxe at
Shi Feng once more.

In response to the fast and destructive attack, Shi Feng simply smiled
as he said coldly, “There won’t be a next time because your time is up.”

“Time?” Confusion flashed in the Purgatory Demon’s eyes. Immediately,
however, panic appeared on its face as it shifted its gaze towards the
Bible of Darkness in Shi Feng’s hands. Countless blue chains suddenly
emerged from the Bible of Darkness. Like a pack of hungry wolves, the
chains shot towards the Purgatory Demon. Defiantly, the Demon shouted,
“No!”

The Purgatory Demon no longer bothered with its attack on Shi Feng.
Instead, it was now fled from Shi Feng with all its might.

However, even if the Purgatory Demon was fast, it could not outrun the
blue chains. The blue chains instantly pierced through the Demon and
wrapped around its body, sealing its movements completely. It could only
whimper and mourn painfully as it lay on the ground.

After a few seconds of whining, the Purgatory Demon’s spirited eyes
dimmed. As if it had become a walking corpse, the Demon slowly stood up
from the ground and looked at Shi Feng as if waiting for a command. The
blue chains binding the Demon began to fade.

“That was close. Luckily I used my doppelganger to buy some time.” Shi
Feng finally released out a sigh of relief as he saw the Purgatory
Demon’s lifeless eyes. The Tier 3 Demon was finally under his control.

It was possible for a summoned creature to rebel. However, the chances
of a rebellion were determined by the summoner’s strength. Currently,
Shi Feng was merely a Tier 1 player. If he used a Tier 3 Magic Scroll to
forcefully summon a Tier 3 Demon, the chances of a rebellion were quite
high. Meanwhile, when a summoned creature rebelled, its first target
would be its summoner.

Of course, there was also a method to end a rebellion. For example, the
Bible of Darkness was capable of eliminating a summoned Demon’s
consciousness. However, time was required to do so. After killing the
summoned creature’s will, it would become a puppet without any trace of
autonomy. This would make it very difficult to control the summoned
creature, sharply reducing its combat power.

Normally, after a creature was summoned, the summoner only needed to
transmit simple commands. The summoned creature would then carry out the
commands automatically. However, after becoming a puppet, the summoner
would have to split a portion of their consciousness to direct the
summoned creature’s every movement. This would, in turn, impact the
summoner’s own combat power.

Most importantly, after a summoned creature lost its consciousness,
players would face great difficulties when using the monster’s Skills.
When a monster was self-aware, it could achieve 100% of its Skills’
effects. For players who had never used any of the summoned creature’s
Skills before, in addition to splitting their focus on controlling the
monster, it would be a miracle if they exerted 50% of the summoned
creature’s Skills’ effects.

However, Shi Feng couldn’t care less right now.

Compared to a turncoat Tier 3 Demon, a puppet Tier 3 Demon was far more
useful. Although having to control the Demon manually would greatly
reduce its combat power, it was better than nothing at all.

I wasn’t able to check its Attributes before because it wasn’t under my
control. I wonder just what kind of Attributes the Tier 3 Purgatory
Demon possesses? Shi Feng was very curious about the Tier 3 Demon’s
Attributes. The fact that it could use a Tier 3 Taboo Skill showed that
it was much stronger than ordinary Tier 3 Demons.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 689 - Astonishing Leveling Speed

“So many Skills!”

Upon opening the Purgatory Demon’s Attribute Panel, Shi Feng discovered
a list of tens of Skills. Among them, there were three Tier 3 Skills,
one being the Tier 3 Taboo Skill. The remaining Skills were all Tier 2
The Purgatory Demon had more Skills than an ordinary player. Moreover,
the majority of its Skills were AOE Skills. The Demon could play a huge
role in a group battle.

In addition, the Purgatory Demon’s HP and Level were similarly shocking.

[Purgatory Demon] (Demon)

Level 51

HP 13,000,000/13,000,000

Among Level 50 Great Lords, its HP might not be considerable, but
compared to other Tier 3 Demons with high intellect and a large number
of Skills, the Purgatory Demon’s HP was very high.

Moreover, an ordinary Tier 3 Demon’s combat power was generally higher
than a Great Lord of the same Level. If it came down to a battle, the
Tier 3 Demon would emerge victorious.

Its Strength Attribute is outrageous. It’s several times higher than my
Strength. It should rival a Grand Lord of the same Level. The more Shi
Feng examined the Purgatory Demon’s Attributes, the more shocked he
became.

Currently, he was fully equipped with Tier 3 Strength-Attributed
Gemstones. He even wore the Fragmented Legendary ranked Heavenly
Dragon’s Breath. His Strength was no weaker than a Chieftain of the same
Level, yet even if he activated Twofold Berserk, his Strength would not
reach even half of the Purgatory Demon’s...

With such a powerful summon, his exploration of Mount Sogar’s core area
would be much easier.

At the very least, he would not have to run and hide from monsters
constantly.

Following which, Shi Feng began controlling the Purgatory Demon to
venture deeper into the heart of Mount Sogar.

There were many groups of Stone Apes patrolling the trail up Mount
Sogar. Not only did each patrol team have over a hundred Elite Stone
Apes, but the teams were also led by one Lord ranked Stone Ape Guard.

Shortly after exiting the cave, a Stone Ape Guard discovered both Shi
Feng and the Purgatory Demon. The Lord released a roar and immediately,
over a hundred Level 50 Elite Stone Apes charged at the two intruders.

“You guys can serve as a test, then.” Shi Feng smiled calmly as he
focused the majority of his consciousness into the Purgatory Demon while
he hid as far away as possible.

However, the Purgatory Demon, which was over three meters tall, was like
an immovable wall as it stood in the middle of the mountain trail. With
its war axe held ready, the Demon managed to block the entire trail by
itself.

When the Stone Apes arrived before the Purgatory Demon, the latter swept
its massive two-handed war axe horizontally across the enemy group.

Suddenly, the six leading Stone Apes flew through the air, slamming into
the mountainsides bordering the trail. Some of the Stone Apes’ rock
bodies shattered when they met the massive war axe, damages of over
-30,000 points appearing above their heads. If a player had received the
Purgatory Demon’s attack just now, they would have died instantly.

“Such fierce damage.” Shi Feng was momentarily stunned. He had never
imagined that the Purgatory Demon could deal such high damage.

Compared to the Snow Lions, the Stone Apes’ Defense was much higher.
Previously, he could deal around -1,200 damage to the Snow Lions with
his normal attacks. Yet, the Purgatory Demon dealt over -30,000 damage,
destroying over one-tenth of the Stone Apes’ HPs with one swing of its
axe. Moreover, it even shattered the Stone Apes’ rock bodies, wounding
the Elites heavily and significantly reducing their combat power.

In the face of the Purgatory Demon’s Strength, the Stone Apes were no
more than toys. They could not approach Shi Feng, who hid behind the
Purgatory Demon, at all.

However, Shi Feng was also struggling to control the Tier 3 Demon. Shi
Feng was already not used moving in the Demon’s massive body. Attacking
only increased the complexity of his task. He could not exert his
desired effects at all. At the moment, he was exerting less than
one-third of the Purgatory Demon’s actual strength.

Suddenly, the Stone Ape Guard standing behind the group of Stone Apes
jumped into the air and thrust its spear towards the Purgatory Demon. As
if it were a venomous snake, the spear left behind three afterimages
that struck the Tier 3 Demon.

With the Purgatory Demon’s usual standards, it could have dodged the
Lord’s spear attack effortlessly. However, Shi Feng was unable to exert
the Demon’s full strength, so the Demon received all three attacks.

-2,742.

-2,802.

-2,784.

Three consecutive damages appeared above the Purgatory Demon’s head.

However, compared to the Purgatory Demon’s 13,000,000 HP, these damages
were practically negligible. The Demon’s battle recovery alone
regenerated 130,000 HP every five seconds. Even if Shi Feng allowed the
Stone Ape Guard to attack as much as it wished, it would not kill the
Purgatory Demon.

“I wonder how this move will fare?”

Shi Feng did not want to waste any more time with these Stone Apes. He
controlled the Purgatory Demon and activated the Tier 3 Skill, Garuda’s
Flames.

Garuda’s Flames dealt flame damage within a cone to all enemies within
50 yards. At the same time, targets struck would be forced into a
Fainted state for five seconds.

The Purgatory Demon swung its massive war axe and the Stone Apes before
it drowned in a sea of fire. Even while standing behind the Purgatory
Demon, Shi Feng could feel the scorching heat of Garuda’s Flames.

Against such a wide range attack, neither the Stone Ape Guard nor the
Elite Stone Apes could avoid it. The Purgatory Demon’s attack swallowed
every one of the Stone Apes. Suddenly, the hundred-plus Stone Apes lost
their lives. Only the Lord ranked Stone Ape Guard still lived. However,
the Lord’s body glowed bright red with heat, and of its original
2,800,000 HP, only around 2,100,000 remained.

Garuda’s Flames dealt nearly 700,000 damage to a Level 50 Lord.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng had exerted less than 50% of the Skill’s effect. If
the Purgatory Demon were still self-aware, Garuda’s Flames would
probably have devoured over half of the Stone Ape Guard’s HP.

It’s a pity that this Skill’s Cooldown is somewhat long. Otherwise,
grinding with this Skill would be exhilarating. Shi Feng sighed as he
glanced at his experience bar. Shi Feng had been at 9% of Level 32. Now,
his experience stopped at 20%. His experience bar had jumped by a full
11%.

After players reached Level 30, the amount of EXP they required to level
up would increase tremendously. Even expert players had to grind for
several days to gain a single level, not to mention someone like Shi
Feng, who required twice as much EXP as ordinary players.

Any other player would have gained 22%. They would only have to defeat
five Stone Ape patrol teams to gain a Level.

However, part of this was also because the monsters at the Top of the
World provided much higher EXP than the monsters in Star-Moon Kingdom.
Moreover, there was also the fact that the Stone Apes were Elite
monsters and were 18 Levels higher than Shi Feng, providing him with
ample amounts of bonus EXP. For an ordinary player, a Common monster
that was two or three levels higher would be their limit, let alone an
Elite monster.

Normally, a party of ordinary players was required to take down a single
Elite monster. After splitting the EXP six-ways, each player would only
receive a small amount. Meanwhile, Shi Feng enjoyed the EXP from more
than a hundred Stone Apes by himself. His leveling speed would be as
fast as flight.

Following which, Shi Feng directed the Purgatory Demon to attack the
Stone Ape Guard with more Skills.

The Tier 3 Skills’ Cooldowns were simply too long. Shi Feng intended to
use them sparingly, so he only used Tier 2 Skills to deal with the Stone
Ape Guard. Even so, each Tier 2 Skill dealt over -100,000 damage.

In less than 30 seconds, the Stone Ape Guard lay at the Purgatory
Demon’s feet. Meanwhile, Shi Feng’s experience bar had risen by an
additional 6%. The Lord provided more EXP than half of the hundred-plus
Elite Stone Apes.

Other than providing Shi Feng with an abundance of EXP, these Stone Apes
had also dropped a large number of items. Equipment and materials
littered the mountain trail before the Purgatory Demon. The drop-rate
here was even better than in the Stoneclaw Mountains. However, this
place was home to monsters that were Level 50 and above. If Shi Feng
grinded in an ordinary high-level map in Star-Moon Kingdom rather than
at the Top of the World, he would not enjoy such a lucrative drop-rate.

However, Mount Sogar possessed a large number of powerful monsters. This
was one major difference between it and ordinary maps. Surviving here
was already extremely difficult for Level 50 players, not to mention
grinding for levels and items.

Moreover, Shi Feng was only able to eliminate the powerful monsters here
due to the Purgatory Demon.

-   Prev Chapter
-   Next Chapter

Chapter 690 - Absurd EXP

The Top of the World is pretty nice. It’s no wonder why those experts in
the past tried so hard to come here. Shi Feng sighed contently after he
finished organizing the loot.

Among these drops, there were several dozen pieces of Level 50
equipment, two of which were Mysterious-Iron rank, 16 were Bronze rank,
and the remainder were Common rank.

After reaching Level 50, even Elite monsters rarely dropped Bronze
Equipment. Only Chieftains would drop Bronze Equipment with a 100%
certainty and had the chance to drop Mysterious-Iron Equipment. As a
result, players would have a far more difficult time obtaining Level 50
high-quality equipment.

To make matters worse, the Final Bosses of Level 50 Hard Mode Party
Dungeons were only Chieftains. Only Hell Mode had Lord ranked Final
Bosses. However, how many ordinary parties were capable of conquering
Hell Mode Party Dungeons?

Moreover, Bosses drop-rates declined sharply after Level 50. A Boss that
would drop six or seven items at lower levels would only drop one or two
items after reaching Level 50.

Shi Feng could vaguely remember the time he had fought and grinded
frantically, only managing to reach Level 50 after an arduous struggle.

Yet, what about Level 50 equipment?

After investing a ton of effort, he had only managed to obtain a full
set of Level 50 Mysterious-Iron Equipment by the time he reached Level
50. If he had worn that quality equipment when he was Level 45, he would
have been considered as an ordinary veteran player at best. Even so, he
had been the envy of Blackie and many of his fellow Guild members.

Back then, wearing several pieces of Level 50 Mysterious-Iron Equipment
into a 20-man Team Dungeon had been a luxury, not to mention a full set
of Mysterious-Iron Equipment. After all, one obtained less than a
handful of Level 50 Mysterious-Iron items after clearing a Level 50,
20-man Hard Mode Team Dungeon.

This was also the reason behind forgers’ suddenly popularity surge.

Although it might be very difficult for players to forge top-tier
equipment, they had a relatively high success rate for producing Level
50 and above Bronze and Mysterious-Iron Weapons and Equipment. However,
the required materials were not so easily obtained.

On the other hand, after defeating a single wave of Stone Apes, Shi Feng
now had so many pieces of Level 50 Bronze and Mysterious-Iron Equipment.
It was mind-blowing.

Shi Feng continued to explore Mount Sogar’s core area. During his
journey, he defeated any Stone Ape patrols that he encountered for EXP
and equipment.

Humans had yet to claim Mount Sogar, so there were many Stone Ape
patrols wandering along the mountain trail. It did not take long before
Shi Feng encountered another patrol team. For Shi Feng, this place was a
leveling heaven.

Against the Stone Ape patrols, the Purgatory Demon’s strength was simply
overwhelming.

In less than three hours, Shi Feng easily reached 74% of Level 33. If he
wanted to, he could place in the top 20 of Star-Moon Kingdom’s Ranking
List.

Previously, to obtain the First Clear of Level 30, 100-man Team
Dungeons, the various Guilds had intentionally held back their levels.
Meanwhile, some powerful independent experts or Workshop experts had
not. Instead, they took the opportunity to level up rapidly, earning
some fame for themselves. Hence, the current average level on Star-Moon
Kingdom’s Ranking List was quite high, with the top three players at
Level 34.

Meanwhile, the top 20 on Star-Moon Kingdom’s Ranking List were all Level
33 and above.

If not for the Purgatory Demon helping him grind on Mount Sogar, he
might have struggled to catch up to the top 20 players.

Mount Sogar was massive. It was almost three times as large as an
ordinary leveling map of the same Level. Hence, searching for Solomon’s
Treasure was time-consuming. Shi Feng also encountered many powerful
monsters throughout his journey, which slowed his progress further.

To explore Mount Sogar effectively, Shi Feng had used the Bible of
Darkness and Magic Amplification Scroll once more to summon a Level 51
Tier 3 Curse Demon. Although the Curse Demon had similarly turned on
him, Shi Feng had directed the Purgatory Demon to incapacitate the Curse
Demon, allowing him to force it into submission.

Unlike the Purgatory Demon, however, the Curse Demon did not possess any
Tier 3 Taboo Skills. It also only had 9,500,000 HP. However, as it was a
magic-type Demon, its AOE capabilities were much stronger than the
Purgatory Demon.

With two Tier 3 Demons under his control, Shi Feng could explore the
area far more efficiently. He had no problems facing even two or three
waves of Stone Ape patrols simultaneously. He no longer had to waste too
much time hiding and killing monsters.

---

The Stoneclaw Mountains’ inner region:

“Cola, be careful of that Half-orc Lord’s Skills. Lure it away from the
team first. Everyone else, focus fire on the Lord that Turtledove is
tanking.” Fire Dance fought while commanding her team to deal with two
Level 40 Half-orc Lords.

Currently, players crowded the Stoneclaw Mountains. To secure more
resources for themselves, Zero Wing’s main force had no choice but to
distance themselves from the crowd and push deeper into the Mountains.

They were lucky if they encountered a Lord in the outer region. However,
after reaching the inner region, the number of Lords wandering about had
increased significantly. From time to time, players would have to face
two Lords simultaneously. This was a huge challenge for teams. Hence,
the various Guild teams avoided this area.

To Zero Wing’s main force, however, this area was just difficult enough.

Zero Wing’s lead MT Cola wore a complete Tier 1 Set Equipment. He also
had the Bluefire Shield. He had no problems handling a single Level 40
Lord by himself. As for Turtledove, she had recently obtained the Epic
ranked Divine Frost Armor, so she, too, could tank a Lord without
assistance. In addition, Ye Wumian similarly wore a complete Tier 1 Set
Equipment for Shield Warriors. He was constantly ready to jump in when
necessary.

If the MTs had no issues, there was no need to mention the team’s DPS.
Whether it was Fire Dance, Rampant Blade, Shadow Sword, Minor Wind, or
Violet Cloud, every one of them possessed superb Attack Power. They also
wore equipment that allowed them to ignore more than ten of monsters’
Levels. Without any level suppression, their damage against Level 40
Lords would not be affected in the slightest.

Hence, the team was more than capable of taking down two Level 40 Lords
simultaneously.

Currently, the members of Zero Wing’s main force were all at Level 32,
leveling with impressive speed. There were a few reasons for their
leveling rate. First, everyone’s experience bars had been frozen around
90% of Level 30 throughout their raid of the Frost Prison. After
obtaining the First Clear of the Hell Mode Frost Prison, everyone
promptly turned their attention to grinding in the Stoneclaw Mountains.
They also managed to accumulate the Double EXP buff by resting in the
Guild Residence’s Private Rooms while they had been offline. While they
had focused on raiding the Frost Prison, they had accumulated more than
one Level’s worth of the Double EXP buff. Thus, the moment they returned
to leveling, they rapidly climbed to Level 32.

In less than 20 minutes, the team had dealt with their latest Half-orc
enemies, resulting in everyone’s experience bars rising significantly.

“Fire Dance, our Guild members have been ambushed in the Stoneclaw
Mountains. Be careful.” Aqua Rose suddenly contacted Fire Dance to warn
her.

“Someone’s ambushed our Guild members?” Fire Dance was slightly
surprised. “Which Guild is it?”

Stone Forest Town was Zero Wing’s territory now. For someone to dare
target Zero Wing’s members in the Stoneclaw Mountains, they were simply
asking to be banned from the town.

“I don’t think that it’s a Guild. The ambushed members reported that
their attackers had not worn any Guild Emblems. After watching the
videos they recorded, the ambushers didn’t seem like any Guild experts
I’ve encountered. However, the enemy is moving in relatively large
groups. The smaller groups have around a dozen or so players, while the
largest one is a 50-man team. I’ve researched that team already. They do
not belong to any Guild. Rather, the team belongs to a Workshop.” Aqua
Rose was similarly surprised when she received the report on these
assailants. After all, every player currently grinding in the Stoneclaw
Mountains should know Zero Wing’s reputation. Yet, there were still
people who dared to ambush their members. “In any case, your team should
be on the lookout as well. I’ll try to learn more as soon as possible.”

If this really were the doing of a Guild, then she would destroy that
Guild’s foothold in the Stoneclaw Mountains.

“Alright, I’ll make a note of it.” Fire Dance nodded.

There would not be any other players in the Stoneclaw Mountains’ inner
region. After all, the danger here was much higher than in the outer
areas. Ordinary players could not set foot here and survive.

However, as soon as Fire Dance disconnected the call, she heard Minor
Wind’s anxious voice through the team chat.“A large group of players is
approaching!”

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-   Next Chapter

Chapter 691 - Red List

In God’s Domain, not only did Rangers possess both melee and ranged
combat capabilities, but their perception and scouting abilities were
also superior to other classes.

Particularly, out in the dangerous fields, if a party had a Ranger among
its members, the party could avoid many potential dangers.

As the number one Ranger of Zero Wing, not only did Minor Wind wear
excellent equipment, but he had also learned some Rare Skills thanks to
Shi Feng’s guidance, particularly Scouting and Perception Skills. Some
of these Skills could strengthen a player’s five senses, even allowing
them to see a blade of grass that was over 100 yards away. If they could
detect a powerful monster approaching, they could avoid unnecessary
battles. As a Ranger expert, Minor Wind could reach even greater heights
with these Skills.

If an enemy did not possess Skills like the Assassin’s Stealth, Minor
Wind would easily discover them as they shifted through the grass, even
from 150 yards away.

“Are they Guild players?” Fire Dance asked.

This was the Stoneclaw Mountains’ inner region. Not only were the
monsters very high-leveled, but they were also much stronger than
ordinary monsters of the same Level. Generally, only large Guilds’ main
forces were capable of grinding here.

“No. None of them are wearing any Guild Emblems. Moreover, they all are
Red Names,” Minor Wind reported and shook his head after observing them
carefully with Eagle Eyes. “Based on how they’re moving, it is clear
that they are coming straight for us.”

“They’re charging at us?” Cola could not help but laugh. “Do these Red
Names think that we are easy targets?”

The others also began laughing.

With their team’s skills and equipment, even an army of 1,000 elite
players would not be a problem, much less a small team. Other players
should celebrate their peaceful coexistence. Yet, now, an unknown group
of players intentionally sought them out to cause trouble. These people
did not understand the difference between life and death.

“Alright, enough. Everyone get ready,” Fire Dance commanded. She felt
that this matter was not as simple as it seemed. She then directed a
question to Minor Wind, asking, “Roughly how many of them are there?”

“There should be around 300 people. Among them, there’s one person I’ve
seen before. He’s an expert ranked on Star-Moon Kingdom’s Red List,”
Minor Wind could not help his surprise after he could observe more
details about the approaching enemies.

The Main God System had not comprised nor did it handle the Red List.
Rather, players had established it to keep a record of powerful Red
Names.

Star-Moon Kingdom’s Red List only kept a record of the top 100 Red Names
in the kingdom.

Every one of these Red Names was an expert. Among these Red List
experts, there were even a few that Guilds would not casually provoke.
Fortunately, however, these experts also avoided provoking the various
large Guilds. Hence, the relationship between them had always been
relatively peaceful, each minding their own businesses.

Yet, now, an expert on the Red List had actually come to challenge them.

This was certainly unexpected.

“Since they want to target Zero Wing, make sure their visit is a one-way
trip.” Fire Dance glowered. She felt there was more to this than what
appeared on the surface. Although she did not know what it was, dealing
with the approaching Red Names took priority over all else.

Immediately, Fire Dance led the team to welcome their aggressors.

---

“Big Brother Traceless Blood, it seems that we’ve been discovered,” a
sharp-faced male Ranger in tight, gray leather clothes hurriedly
reported to the male Assassin beside him. This Assassin had eyes like a
venomous snake, and he hid his face behind a black scarf.

Although this male Assassin had a thin body, among the nearly 300 Red
Names present, not a single person dared to underestimate him.

It was because this man was an expert ranked within the top ten of
Star-Moon Kingdom’s Red List.

Although there was more than one Red List expert among the crowd, none
of them could even hope to hold a candle to Traceless Blood. After all,
Traceless Blood had once massacred a third-rate Guild’s main force.
Moreover, even though said third-rate Guild had attempted to corner
Traceless Blood many times, they had never once successfully killed him.
On the contrary, the Assassin had claimed their Guild Leader’s life
multiple times. For a time, that Guild had been a laughingstock.

From that moment on, no Guild out there dared to underestimate Traceless
Blood.

Aside from Guilds, Traceless Blood had also killed many of Star-Moon
Kingdom’s experts. His most notable assassination attempt so far was his
assassination of the Star Alliance’s Guild Leader, Galaxy Past. In the
end, although he had failed to kill Galaxy Past, he had escaped the Star
Alliance’s many experts. This outcome had angered Galaxy Past greatly,
and the man had even ordered a bounty on Traceless Blood, rewarding 50
Gold each time someone manages to kill him.

If converted to Credits, 50 Gold was the equivalent of more than 100,000
Credits. This was sufficient to tempt many people.

Unfortunately, until this day, not a single person had managed to kill
Traceless Blood even once. On the contrary, Galaxy Past’s bounty had
only served to boost the Assassin’s fame, becoming an infamous Red Name
on Star-Moon Kingdom’s Bounty List.

“Good, then. I’ve wanted to experience the skills of Zero Wing’s experts
for a while now. You guys should be careful. Although we have the
numerical advantage, our coordination is definitely no match for theirs.
Try to split their members up as much as possible,” Traceless Blood
commanded. He then activated Stealth and vanished before the crowd.

Everyone nodded in response. In truth, however, they all looked down on
Zero Wing.

They were all PvP experts. Hundreds, if not thousands, of players had
died at each of these Red Names’ hands.

Particularly in field battles, the various large Guilds’ experts were no
different from pampered, flowers. These experts mainly focused on
raiding Dungeons. When it came to PvP in the fields, such experts were
nothing to them.

“I heard that the equipment of Zero Wing’s main force is superb. We’re
going to make a fortune.”

Many Red Names drooled when thinking about Zero Wing’s equipment.

“Someone’s charging towards us,” a Red Name Ranger shouted.

Immediately, every Red Name went on alert, focused on the group of
players charging towards them.

“Hahaha! Sure enough, they’re just a bunch of noobs that don’t know what
a real battle is! Rather than attacking from a distance first, they’ve
decided to jump into their graves!”

Many of the ranged Red Names began to launch attacks at Zero Wing’s
three MTs.

These three were none other than Cola, Ye Wumian, and Turtledove.

Facing more than a hundred ranged attacks, the three MTs immediately
utilized the trees as cover, avoiding the oncoming attacks while
advancing. Even when an attack landed, they only received a few hundred
damage. All three MTs had over 10,000 HP, so this damage was barely a
scratch. A single heal from the rear line healers was all they needed to
recover.

“Such high Defense and HP. However, do you really think you can win by
relying on your equipment?” a few melee Red Names could not help but
curse disdainfully as they watched the three MTs. They then readied
their weapons and charged to meet Zero Wing in battle.

Equipment was only one of the many aspects of battle. Even if their HPs
and Defenses were higher, they could not live if they could not move.

Suddenly, dozens of melee players surrounded the three MTs, halting
their advance.

Knowing that Cola and the others had superior equipment, these Red Names
did not take them head-on. Instead, they used Skills to restrict the
trio, creating opportunities for the ranged players to chip away their
HPs.

Turtledove was only a Guardian Knight. Even if her dodging capabilities
were more powerful, against more than a dozen players, she was bound to
be hit sooner or later. Red Name’s normal attacks usually dealt around
-400 damage to her. If a powerful Skill stuck her, she would receive
more than -1,000 damage. She would not last long even if she cast
Protection Blessing on herself.

“I can finally test out this move.” Turtledove smiled calmly as she
activated Freezing Air.

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Chapter 692 - A Corporation’s Strength

Star-Moon City, Star-Moon Restaurant:

Star-Moon Restaurant was the only 5-star restaurant in Star-Moon City.
The building was 36-stories tall and stood at the heart of the city’s
central trade district. If one dined in the top floor rooms of the
restaurant, they could couple their food with the beauty of Star-Moon
City.

However, even expert players could not afford even a single meal in the
top floor rooms.

The minimum expenditure here was 30 Gold.

Normally, only NPC nobles came here for a meal. This was not a place for
players.

Today, however, a charming and sexy female player in luxurious purple
robes enjoyed a meal in one of the VIP rooms on the top floor.
Delicacies covered the table, each costing at least 2 Gold. Each dish
offered players a relatively top-tier piece of equipment.

Suddenly, the room’s doors opened. A burly, middle-aged man entered the
room.

“Miss Willow, I’ve arranged for the matter you requested. Both the Red
Names and various Workshops are quite satisfied with the remuneration
that we have provided. Now, all we need to do is watch as Zero Wing is
slowly ground to dust,” the burly man reported coldly as he approached
the purple-robed female respectfully.

This man was none other than Twilight Echo’s Guild Leader, Glorious
Echo.

After Shi Feng had angered Exemplary Willow, the latter had ordered
Glorious Echo to deal with Zero Wing. However, that was a challenge even
for him.

Star-Moon Kingdom was not Twilight Echo’s home ground. Moreover, even if
it were, Twilight Echo couldn’t do anything about Stone Forest Town.

Hence, he had decided to hire the various Workshops and Red Names in
Star-Moon Kingdom to deal with Zero Wing.

A beggar doesn’t fear going bankrupt.

Unlike Guilds, these players could afford to target Zero Wing as they
had never particularly relied on Stone Forest Town or the Stoneclaw
Mountains to strengthen themselves and level up. Even if Zero Wing tried
to avenge their losses, locating these Red Names and Workshops would not
be easy. The resources and manpower required to do so would gradually
wear Zero Wing down.

It was especially true for those Red Names. Every one of them was an
expert in field combat. It was easy for these Red Names to find an
opportunity to kill a few of Zero Wing’s core members. In addition,
through repeated ambushes and harassment, they could restrict Zero
Wing’s activity.

Moreover, Exemplary Willow was still arranging further punishment for
Zero Wing. There was no need to worry about the Guild surviving.

“What did the Star Alliance and Ouroboros say about our offer?”
Exemplary Willow asked softly.

“The Star Alliance has agreed to our conditions. Ouroboros,
unfortunately, does not know how to appreciate kindness when offered.
However, I’ve contacted Ouroboros’s original Guild Leader. If Miss
Willow agrees to help him, he is confident that he can reclaim Ouroboros
for himself.” Glorious Echo had been shocked by Gentle Snow’s rejection.

Ouroboros was no longer as strong as it had been. After the mutiny,
Ouroboros began to struggle. Several corporations that had originally
supported Ouroboros had abandoned the Guild. The fact that the Guild
remained standing was a miracle in and of itself. Theoretically, the
Guild should be in need of a large sum of money to turn things around.
Yet, Gentle Snow had rejected the offer of Open Source Corporation’s
support.

Exemplary Willow had offered no less than what she had given Twilight
Echo. Moreover, as the Guild Leader of Ouroboros, Gentle Snow should
hold a significant fraction of the Guild’s shares. If she had accepted
the offer, those shares would have easily become over ten times more
valuable.

Exemplary Willow wanted to obtain the Stoneclaw Mountains at all cost.
If they could not obtain Star-Moon City’s two first-rate Guilds, it
would be nearly impossible to claim the Regional Dungeon for themselves.
Hence, Glorious Echo had sought out Ouroboros’s original Guild Leader,
Cao Chenghua. Cao Chenghua’s influence was still entwined with
Ouroboros. He was only helpless about his situation because Gentle Snow
had gained the support of several important Guild Elders.

If Cao Chenghua had the support of OSC, however, there was a large
possibility that he could regain control over Ouroboros.

“Since that is the case, agree to his conditions. I don’t want to waste
too much of my time on Star-Moon Kingdom.” Exemplary Willow nodded
indifferently. When she thought about Shi Feng’s previous arrogance, her
lips unconsciously twisted into a cold sneer.

Against a boorish fellow like Shi Feng, she had decided show him just
what kind of beast he had provoked.

---

Meanwhile, in the Stoneclaw Mountain’s inner region, the battle between
Zero Wing’s main force and the army of Red Names was in full swing.

After Turtledove activated Freezing Air, the temperature within 15 yards
of her fell sharply, cold air filling the area. The Movement Speeds of
the dozen or so Red Names surrounding Turtledove instantly dropped by
40%. Meanwhile, the damage Turtledove received decreased to around -100
points.

These Red Names were no fools. The moment they noticed the change to
their Movement Speeds, they began to distance themselves from
Turtledove. In the next second, however, their Movement Speeds decreased
by another 40%. Even if they fast, they could not outrun the Guardian
Knight.

Three seconds later, all of the melee Red Names surrounding Turtledove
and the other two MTs were frozen.

“What kind of Skill is this?” Some of the melee players who had intended
to charge at Turtledove slid to a halt, aghast as they watched their
companions turn into ice sculptures.

With such an AOE Control Skill and high Defense, melee classes like
themselves had no hope in close combat with Turtledove. They could only
allow Turtledove move unhindered as she approached their team’s rear
line healers.

However, as players who often participated in PvP battles, these Red
Names were no weaklings. Every one of them possessed Skills that allowed
them to remove control effects. They immediately activated these Skills
to break free from their restraints.

If they were frozen solid, they would be no more than practice targets.
Zero Wing’s ranged players would bombard them with vicious attacks. If
comparing equipment quality, Zero Wing’s main force was at least two
levels above theirs.

It was especially true for Minor Wind’s attacks. As he possessed the
Tier 1 Weapon, Windchaser, even MTs such as Shield Warriors and Guardian
Knights, who possessed Damage Reduction Skills, received over -1,000
from each of his normal attacks. If they sustained one of the Ranger’s
Skills, they would receive nearly -3,000 damage, nearly -6,000 damage if
it were a critical hit.

Among these Red Name MTs, there were a few who had as much as 9,000 HP,
while some had as little as 8,000 HP. A single critical hit from a Skill
was more than enough to destroy over half of their HPs. Even the Red
Name healers could not keep up with Minor Wind’s damage.

Moreover, Minor Wind’s Attack Speed was astonishing. Even expert players
would have a hard time dodging his arrows. Furthermore, these Red Names
had opponents in front of them to deal with. They could not afford to
split their attention to dodging the Ranger’s arrows.

Only, as soon as these players broke free from their Frozen debuffs,
they instantly discovered that something was amiss.

Although they were no longer frozen, their Movement Speeds were still so
low. They could not shake off Turtledove and could only suffer the
Guardian Knight’s repeated attacks. Each of Turtledove’s attacks dealt
over -600 damage to the melee players. Using Hammer of Sanctions, not
only could she force her target into a Fainted state, but she could also
achieve a critical hit of over -3,000 points. The half-HP Level 31
Shield Warrior, who was Turtledove’s current target, lost his remaining
HP instantly, dropping two pieces of equipment as he fell to the ground.

These Red Names all belonged to the forces of darkness. Even the penalty
they received for being Red Names were light. They only lost slightly
more EXP than the average player; roughly 1.5 to 2 Level’s worth of EXP.

Meanwhile, Cola’s and Ye Wumian’s damage was even higher than
Turtledove’s. Each one of their Skills dealt over -4,000 damage with a
critical hit. The unlucky half-HP melee Red Names died instantly.

“Damn it! Why is their damage so high?!” Many Red Names were
dumbfounded.

What these Red Names did not know, however, was that Cola and the
others’ Skill Completion Rates far surpassed theirs. Hence, their Skill
damage was very high.

Three seconds later, the melee players who had broken free from the
Freezing effect froze solid once more.

Against the ranged attacks of Zero Wing’s main force, even with their
healers’ support, these Red Names could not escape death.

In the blink of an eye, over a dozen melee Red Names fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, the majority of Zero Wing’s melee forces suddenly emerged
from the forest, launching a pincer attack from the side. As the Red
Names had focused all of their attention on the three MTs, they were
momentarily caught off-guard by the sudden pincer attack.

Just as the melee Red Names tried desperately to defend against the
sudden ambush, Fire Dance, Flying Shadow, and the other Assassins of
Zero Wing suddenly appeared behind the Red Name healers.

Ambush!

Backstab!

Absolute Strike!

With a chain of attacks, Fire Dance and the other Assassins claimed the
lives of multiple healers.

Meanwhile, the Red Name Assassins had similar thoughts. They had long
since circled to Zero Wing’s back, launching an ambush on the team’s
healers.

“Die!”

Traceless Blood had long since set his eyes on the Cleric Violet Cloud.
Using Shadow Steps, he appeared right behind Violet Cloud, his dagger
plunging towards Violet Cloud’s heart.

-   Prev Chapter
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Chapter 693 - Magic Weapon Against Magic Weapon

Traceless Blood was extremely fast. Everything happened in the blink of
an eye.

The Assassin had not given Violet Cloud any opportunities to activate
her Skills.

Traceless Blood had investigated Violet Cloud, so he knew the Cleric was
very strong. If he gave her even a breath of time, it was possible that
his assassination attempt would fail. Hence, he had taken his time,
slowly and carefully approaching Violet Cloud and using Shadow Steps at
its maximum range. This way, by the time Violet Cloud’s senses reacted,
it would be too late.

The dagger covered in engraved, black runes tore through the air,
colliding with Violet Cloud’s back.

With his first strike landing successfully, Traceless Blood immediately
used the most powerful Skill of Assassins, Absolute Strike, instead of a
different Skill like Backstab. Unlike Backstab, Absolute Strike did not
require any specific attack motions, allowing for a faster strike.

Suddenly, Traceless Blood transformed into a black light that pierced
through Violet Cloud.

After arriving in front of the Cleric, Traceless Blood spun in midair,
using his dagger’s most powerful Additional Skill, Flowing Light, on the
Cleric. Flowing Light’s single target damage was even higher than
Absolute Strike. The Skill was also much faster, the entire process
ending in less than a heartbeat.

“You!”

Traceless Blood’s eyes widened as he looked at his dagger in disbelief.
No matter how much strength he put into his arm, his dagger could not
pierce Violet Cloud’s pale golden robes. It was as if her robes were
made of adamantine.

“You are quite impressive. If I hadn’t activated Absolute Space at the
first sign of danger, I would have most likely been dead by now,” Violet
Cloud said as she looked at the dagger with black runes. Those black
runes looked very familiar to her. They were very similar to the runes
unique to Magic Weapons. If the dagger wounded her, the consequences
would be unimaginable.

Since his attack had failed, although Traceless Blood was shocked, he
immediately turned and fled. He abandoned the idea of attacking Violet
Cloud as he knew that he could no longer inflict damage on the Cleric.
Moreover, he did not know the duration of the Cleric’s Absolute Space.
While she had that protection, he was no more than a living target. His
only options were to run and hide.

“You can’t escape!”

Violet Cloud did not dare give Traceless Blood an opportunity to escape.
Absolute Space had a relatively long Cooldown. If she allowed the
Assassin to get away, she would not be able to fend him off should he
come back to attack her again.

Waving her finger, she used the Tier 1 Skill, Star’s Guidance.

Immediately, a powerful gravitational force pulled at Traceless Blood,
dragging him back towards Violet Cloud.

What kind of Skill is this?! This was the first time Traceless Blood had
seen such an unconventional Skill. He felt like small threads had
wrapped around him, zealously pulling him towards his enemy.

As a last resort, Traceless Blood used his Control Removal Skill,
removing the effects of Star’s Guidance.

“Sacred Seal!”

Seeing that her attack had failed, Violet Cloud used Sacred Seal, a
Marking Skill of Clerics. Suddenly, a sacred light appeared on Traceless
Blood’s forehead, preventing him from entering Stealth.

Damn it! She knows a Skill like this as well?! Traceless Blood began to
panic. Not being able to enter Stealth was extremely disadvantageous for
him. With this, he would not be able to sneak up on Violet Cloud later
in the battle.

Shortly after Traceless Blood began to flee, a black figure dashed
towards him.

“Don’t even think of escaping!” Shadow Sword lifted Tempest’s Breath and
used Charge at the Assassin.

Since Traceless Blood had already used his Control Removal Skill, he had
no choice but to use Wind Steps, utilizing the 1 second of
invulnerability the Skill provided to block Shadow Sword’s Charge.
Turning around, Traceless Blood then flipped his dagger into a
reverse-grip and plunged the weapon into Shadow Sword’s abdomen.

Kidney Strike!

As long as the Skill forced the Berserker into a Fainted state for two
or three seconds, it would be enough for him to get away.

Realizing that he could not block the incoming attack in time, Shadow
Sword activated Whirlwind Slash, swinging Tempest’s Breath at Traceless
Blood. Shadow Sword fully intended to trade hit for hit.

Seeing this, Traceless Blood had no choice but to halt his attack and
retreat immediately, evading Shadow Sword’s Whirlwind Slash.

He was merely an Assassin. How could his normal attacks deal more damage
than a Berserker? Moreover, he wore leather armor, whereas Berserkers
wore plate armor. Even if his weapon were a Magic Weapon, a head-on
clash could end with mutual destruction. Moreover, he currently occupied
the rear line of the enemy’s formation. There were no healers to recover
his HP. However, Shadow Sword was different. He had the assistance of a
healer like Violet Cloud. The Berserker had no fear of a battle of
attrition. Hence, when Shadow Sword attacked, there was no fear in his
eyes at all.

After evading Shadow Sword’s attack, Traceless Blood immediately turned
and fled, having no desire to continue his clash with the Berserker.

His opponents included an expert Cleric and an expert Berserker. He had
very little confidence in defeating either one in a frontal assault, to
begin with, not to mention fighting both simultaneously.

However, Shadow Sword had no intentions of letting the Assassin get away
so easily. Immediately, he followed his failed attack with Break and
Thunderclap. When the Movement Speed Reduction effects of both Skills
were compounded, Traceless Blood lost any hope of escaping the
Berserker.

Traceless Blood had no choice but to enter a melee with Shadow Sword.

Peng!

When the two weapons collided, dazzling sparks scattered into the
surroundings.

The impact forced Traceless Blood to retreat by three steps, a grim
expression appearing on his face when he noticed his opponent still
standing steadily in his original location.

Why does he have so much Strength?! Traceless Blood acknowledged that
his own Strength Attribute was quite high, even slightly higher than an
ordinary Berserker. Yet, against Shadow Sword’s attack, this Berserker’s
Strength overwhelmed him. The Magic Weapon he wielded granted him a
significant amount of Strength. Even if Shadow Sword was superior in
terms of Strength, the Berserker’s attack should not have been able to
force him back by three steps. Even now, his hand still felt numb from
the exchange. Zero Wing actually possesses so many top-tier experts?

Smiling, Violet Cloud finished chanting her incantation. She then
pointed her finger at Traceless Blood.

Tier 1 Spell, Black Coffin!

A pitch-black barrier suddenly wrapped around Traceless Blood.

Having no other choice, Traceless Blood used Vanish. After activating
Vanish, he would become invulnerable to all attacks momentarily. The
Skill would also place him in a Forced Invisibility state for three
seconds, followed by a Stealth state. Even Sacred Seal would not be
effective during Forced Invisibility’s three seconds, and these three
seconds were more than enough to put a huge distance between himself and
the two experts.

“Vanish?” Shadow Sword had no counter for this Skill either.

This was the most powerful Lifesaving Skill an Assassin, one of the
twelve major classes, possessed. Unless one had a Silencing Skill, it
was extremely difficult to kill an expert Assassin.

Three seconds later, Traceless Blood reappeared far from Shadow Sword.
At this range, even the Berserker’s Charge would not reach him.
Moreover, Assassin was an Agility-focused class. In terms of Movement
Speed, an Assassin was much faster than a Berserker. In addition,
Traceless Blood also possessed equipment that enhanced his speed. There
was no way that Shadow Sword could catch up to him at this point.

This was also why Traceless Blood had been able to escape after his
assassination attempt on Galaxy Past had failed.

“What’s this?” Traceless Blood suddenly noticed a black magic array
beneath his feet.

Although Traceless Blood struggled to get away, this black magic array
was like a black hole. No matter how much he tried to struggle, he could
not escape his fate of being devoured.

In the next moment, the black magic array swallowed the Assassin whole,
his body vanishing without a trace.

When Traceless Blood saw light again, he was shocked.

“How is this possible?!”

He appeared a short distance from Violet Cloud once more. This time,
however, he was surrounded by Mana Balls and Barriers of Light. The
Berserker, Shadow Sword, also stood nearby. He had no options to flee
the enclosement of the Barriers of Light.

“I already told you that you can’t escape.” Wielding a pitch-black key
in her hand, Violet Cloud smiled at Traceless Blood and said calmly,
“You have a Magic Weapon. I, too, have a Magic Weapon.”

To resolve a serious threat like Traceless Blood, Violet Cloud utilized
her final trump card, Star’s Reminiscence. The Skill was also an
Astromancer’s main weapon. One of the Skill’s effects was Spatial
Imprisonment.

When activated, Star’s Reminiscence would lock a target in the specified
space indefinitely. If the target wished to escape their imprisonment,
their only option was to shatter the spatial barrier or have the user
dispel the Skill. Meanwhile, the user’s Mana determined how much damage
the spatial barrier could absorb. It was a Skill with terrifying
effects. However, the Skill also had a very long Cooldown of two hours.

I’m actually going to die like this. Traceless Blood could not help but
smile bitterly as he watched the Mana Balls that covered the sky and the
Berserker that eyed him like a fierce tiger.

-   Prev Chapter
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Chapter 694 - Zero Wing’s Strength

Stoneclaw Mountains, outer region:

Currently, over 400 finely equipped Red Names pushed deeper into the
Stoneclaw Mountains’ inner region.

However, as they approached the area, not only were the monsters they
encountered stronger, but the number of monsters they encountered also
increased. Moreover, the more players there were on the team, the easier
it was for monsters to discover them. As a result, battles occurred
quite frequently.

Initially, the group only encountered two to three hundred Level 35
Elite Half-orcs and a few Special Elite and Chieftain Half-orcs. Now,
however, the group frequently encountered groups of four to five hundred
Level 38 Elite Half-orcs led by Level 39 Half-orc Lords. The battles
were twice as difficult now.

“Our luck is terrible. These Half-orcs respawn so quickly.”

“If we had known that their respawn rates were so fast, we would not
have wasted so much time on recruiting more members and let Traceless
Blood get ahead of us.”

Many team members envied Traceless Blood’s team.

To have better chances of defeating Zero Wing’s main force, they had
spent a lot of time trying to recruit more members. Yet, now, they had
to deal with all of these Half-orcs. It would still be some time before
they would catch up with Zero Wing’s main force.

“I heard that the battle has started already. I wonder if we can make it
in time?”

“We’d be more effective if we arrived late. After all, this is Zero
Wing’s main force we are talking about. If Traceless Blood cannot wipe
them out completely, we can pick up the scraps.”

“Hey, that’s Traceless Blood you’re talking about. With him on the
offensive, do you really think many will get away?”

“I guess that’s true. Let’s hurry, then. Otherwise, this trip will have
been pointless.”

Realizing this, the team began to fight with more fervor.

In God’s Domain, dark players and light players rarely interacted as
both sides looked down on each other. To dark players, light players
were merely a group of players with little to no combat capabilities.
They were only good at grinding Dungeons. How could such players compare
to their intense lifestyles of blood and blades? Hence, no matter how
famous and powerful a Guild expert was, in the eyes of Red Names, these
experts were insignificant existences. Red Names thought nothing of
Light Guilds.

“There’s a large group of players heading our way,” a Ranger suddenly
reported.

“It can’t be Zero Wing’s main force, right? I didn’t think that they
would give up so quickly. It seems that Zero Wing only amounts to so
much. Those rumors about how powerful the Guild is are all just a bunch
of lies,” many Red Names began to ridicule and mock the Guild.

“Alright, enough. Get ready. Do not let a single player from Zero Wing
escape.”

They were quickly approaching the Stoneclaw Mountains inner region.
Aside from Zero Wing and the ambushing Red Names, this area was empty of
players. Since these players approached them from the inner region, they
were, without a doubt, members of Zero Wing.

Immediately, the 400-plus Red Names spread out and waited for Zero Wing
to stumble right into their encirclement.

Seconds ticked by. Very quickly, several dozen players emerged from the
forest, each and every one of them looking miserable. These players
panted heavily as they emerged. It was obvious that they had exhausted
their Stamina from running across a long distance.

Just as the Red Names, who lay in wait, were about to rush forward and
surround these exhausted players, they suddenly realized that something
was amiss.

“Huh? Isn’t that Berserker Three Knives, the person ranking 91st on the
Red List?”

“Aren’t they members of Traceless Blood’s team?”

“Why do they look so miserable?”

A series of questions popped up in everyone’s minds.

However, they soon found their answers. Suddenly, dozens of arrows and
Spells burst from the forest. In the blink of an eye, several of the
escaping Red Names fell to the ground and dropped several pieces of
their equipment.

Meanwhile, Three Knives, who ran at the forefront of the team,
desperately blocked and dodged the incoming attacks. However, two arrows
still found him, his HP instantly falling by nearly 3,000.

“You think you can get away with provoking Zero Wing?” Minor Wind, who
appeared at the treeline, coldly demanded as he glared at Three Knives.
Behind him, more of Zero Wing’s members followed.

“Since I can’t escape, I’ll take you to the grave with me!” Three
Knives, who was exhausted from running, stopped as he resolved to fight
to the death.

The fight with Zero Wing’s main force had been one-sided punishment.
Even their strongest combatant, Traceless Blood, had been easily
defeated, not to mention the rest of their team.

Less than five minutes since their battle with Zero Wing began, they had
lost over half their numbers. On the other hand, Zero Wing had not
suffered a single death. It was simply inconceivable.

At that point, each side’s strength had been obvious. They were on
completely different levels.

Following which, he had issued a command to retreat immediately.

When they started retreating, they still had more than 100 players. Now,
however, only a dozen or so were alive. Minor Wind had claimed the
majority of their members’ lives himself. Not only were the Ranger’s
arrows extremely fast, but he also had ranged AOEs at his disposal. Even
Three Knives, who ranked 91st on Star-Moon Kingdom’s Red List, could not
defend against all of Minor Wind’s attacks, much less the members of his
team.

“Mutual destruction?” Minor Wind could not help but laugh.
“Unfortunately, you are not capable of such a thing.”

Although Three Knives was strong, superior to even a few members of Zero
Wing’s main force, the Berserker’s Skill Completion Rates were not high.
After taking into account the difference in their equipment, Three
Knives would rank roughly around 56th in Zero Wing’s main force. Of
course, this was not taking the Power of Darkness into consideration.

As Minor Wind said so, he nocked his longbow and shot dozens of arrows
in quick succession at the remaining Red Names.

Although Three Knives and the other Red Names tried to approach Minor
Wind, over 40 yards stretched them and the Ranger. There was not enough
time for them to reach the Ranger. Moreover, of the dozen or so
remaining Red Names, not a single one was a ranged class. Hence, the
group had no choice but to weather the rain of arrows as they advanced.

However, the Tier 1 Weapon, Windchaser, was no trivial item. With it,
Minor Wind could deal over -1,500 damage with his normal attacks alone.
Three Knives and the others had, at most, a little over 7,000 HP. A few
arrows were enough to finish them off. In addition, Minor Wind’s arrows
would occasionally trigger the Quadruple Stars effect. Before the dozen
or so Red Names crossed 10 yards, only Three Knives remained alive.
Though, the Berserker only had a thread of HP left.

The Red Names lying in ambush were all shocked.

With just his bow, Minor Wind single-handedly defeated over a dozen Red
Names before they came anywhere close to him. Even Three Knives was on
his last breath. None of the Red Names lying in wait could believe their
eyes.

“Am I dreaming?”

“Why is that Ranger so powerful?!”

Suddenly, everyone realized that their fellow Red Names who had gone
ahead to ambush Zero Wing were all dead. Moreover, the only survivor had
no more than a thread of HP remaining.

The gap between the light players in their imaginations and the members
of Zero Wing’s main force was massive.

“Oh? You called for reinforcements?” Minor Wind shifted his gaze towards
the Red Names hiding in the bushes. With Eagle Eyes, he noticed more
than 400 players. Grinning, he said, “Since Big Sis Fire and the others
are not around, let’s use you guys to test out my true strength.”

When the Red Names heard Minor Wind’s words, a sense of doom seeped into
their hearts.

Minor Wind’s Attack Power was simply too high. Moreover, none of them
were confident in escaping his rain of arrows unscathed. Three Knives
was the best evidence for the assumption.

Suddenly, the leading black-robed Elementalist jumped up from his hiding
spot and shouted, “W-Wait!!”

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Chapter 695 - Flower of Seven Sins

The black-robed Elementalist was Level 33. On Star-Moon Kingdom’s
Ranking List, he would rank within the top 20. The majority of his
equipment consisted of Level 30 Fine-Gold rank, while the rest was
Dark-Gold rank. Particularly, his staff, which sported a spiral of
flame-red runes, was no ordinary Dark-Gold staff.

“Sunlight Dust!” Three Knives was shocked when he saw the black-robed
Elementalist reveal himself. “What are you doing here?”

Among the top ten experts on Star-Moon Kingdom’s Red List, Traceless
Blood ranked seventh.

Meanwhile, Sunlight Dust stood above Traceless Blood, ranking third on
the Red List.

The Red List was different from the Ranking List. Rather than ranking
players by their Levels, players on the Red List were judged by their
strength. It was a far more accurate estimation than the God’s Domain
Experts List the Secret Pavilion had created.

“So you’re Sunlight Dust, the person who defeated Red Feather, the Star
Alliance’s apex expert.” Minor Wind grew serious as he watched Sunlight
Dust. Coldly, he asked, “Are you targeting Zero Wing as well?”

Red Feather was one of the strongest combatants in the Star Alliance and
was an expert who ranked on the God’s Domain Experts List.

The fact that Sunlight Dust could defeat an apex expert like Red Feather
showed that the Elementalist should also rank at the top of Star-Moon
Kingdom. Hence, even he could not afford to be careless around Sunlight
Dust; even the slightest mistake could result in his death.

“Initially, I had only planned to earn a quick buck. Now, however, it
seems that won’t be possible,” Sunlight Dust said as he turned to an
empty area near Minor Wind. Shaking his head, he said, “Zero Wing really
has an abundance of experts. Its fame is not undeserved.”

Seeing Sunlight Dust’s reaction, Three Knives was very confused.

With Sunlight Dust’s strength and that of his companions, they could
make short work of Minor Wind, yet the expert Elementalist chose to
surrender.

A figure suddenly appeared beside Minor Wind.

This figure was none other than Flying Shadow, who had been in Stealth
all this time.

“I’m impressed. He actually sensed me from so far away,” Flying Shadow
muttered in surprise. With his standards, aside from their Guild Leader,
Black Flame, only Fire Dance and Violet Cloud could detect him from such
a long distance. One could just imagine how powerful Sunlight Dust was.

“You can’t expect this matter to end just because you revealed yourself,
right?” Flying Shadow growled as he stared at Sunlight Dust.

Sunlight Dust and his companions had aimed for Zero Wing from the very
beginning. And yet, the instant the situation turned sour, they wanted
to just up and leave. It was nothing more than disrespectful.

“Of course not,” Sunlight Dust said calmly. “I have very useful
information for Zero Wing. Let us offer this as compensation. What do
you think?”

“What kind of information?” Flying Shadow asked.

“Currently, only Red Names and small Workshops are targeting Zero Wing.
However, this is only the beginning. I’ve heard that our employer is in
the process of hiring the Flower of Seven Sins as well,” Sunlight Dust
said slowly.

At the mention of the name “Flower of Seven Sins,” everyone sucked in a
breath of cold air.

There were many powers in the virtual gaming world. There were Guilds,
Workshops, and special organizations such as the Flower of Seven Sins.

The Flower of Seven Sins was neither a Workshop nor a Guild. However,
the organization’s name shook the virtual gaming world.

Their fame was so widespread was because the Flower of Seven Sins was an
organization specializing in assassination work.

They targeted gamers’ characters, specifically.

As long as a virtual reality game possessed a PvP mechanism, the Flower
of Seven Sins would be present. And as long as a player could afford
their price, whether it was a monster-like gamer or the Guild Leader of
a Super Guild, the Flower of Seven Sins could assassinate their target.

Moreover, these statements were not without proof. In the past, someone
had paid to have the Guild Leader of a Super Guild eliminated. In the
end, the Flower of Seven Sins completed the task. Back then, the
organization had greatly angered said Super Guild, causing said Super
Guild to declare war against the organization. In the end, however, this
Super Guild ceased to exist. The Flower of Seven Sins tore the Guild
apart thoroughly and removed its name from the virtual gaming world
forever.

However, the Flower of Seven Sins’ asking price was extremely high. No
ordinary person could afford it.

Fire Dance suddenly appeared in between the two groups. In a grave tone,
she asked, “Are you telling us the truth?”

Fire Dance’s sudden appearance surprised even Sunlight Dust, causing the
Elementalist to feel an immense pressure.

I actually failed to detect her at such a close distance?!

Sunlight Dust wore a grave expression as he looked at Fire Dance. This
was the first time anyone had come so close to him undetected. He
possessed a Special Skill that granted him greater perception than
ordinary players. Otherwise, he would not have so easily discovered
Flying Shadow.

If Fire Dance attacked him at such a close distance, he would likely
die.

Zero Wing really is scary. It’s no wonder that person is hiring the
Flower of Seven Sins. Sunlight Dust finally realized. He then turned to
Fire Dance, smiling bitterly as he responded, “I guarantee that this
information is true. However, as to what that person has requested the
Flower of Seven Sins to do, even I have no clue.”

“You may leave.” Fire Dance dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

Whether Sunlight Dust was lying to her or not, she doubted his words.
Experts had their own pride to protect. It was especially true for an
apex expert like Sunlight Dust.

Following which, Sunlight Dust led his team away. As for Three Knives,
he was not allowed to leave with his life. Flying Shadow immediately
ended the Berserker’s life as negotiations ended. As for Sunlight Dust,
he did not particularly mind. Although he and Three Knives were both Red
Names, they were not companions, and he had no obligation to rescue
Three Knives.

“Big Sis Fire, what are we going to do now?” Flying Shadow asked
worriedly as he sheathed his daggers.

Every player’s heart was familiar with the terror of the Flower of Seven
Sins. Until today, they had never once failed a job. Even Super Guilds
did not dare to provoke the Flower of Seven Sins. Such an organization
targeted Zero Wing...

Even with Zero Wing’s current strength, Flying Shadow doubted that they
could fend off the Flower of Seven Sins.

“This matter is of utmost importance. Let’s discuss it with Aqua and
Guild Leader first.” Fire Dance had no idea of what to do now. The
Flower of Seven Sins’ reputation was simply too immense. Anyone who had
touched a virtual reality game knew about the organization. The Flower
of Seven Sins was a transcendental existence among gamers.

If the Flower of Seven Sins truly intended to annihilate Zero Wing, then
this would be the greatest danger their Guild had ever faced.

---

The Top of the World, Mount Sogar:

With the aid of two Tier 3 Demons, Shi Feng finally managed to locate a
pair of massive locked doors near the top of Mount Sogar. Engraved runes
decorated the stone doors and black chains bound them, each chain giving
off a faint pressure.

This pressure was familiar to Shi Feng.

Divine Might!

Although the Divine Might the chains exuded was faint, no one who had
encountered Divine Might would forget the sensation.

Shi Feng had already reached Level 34. His level was high enough for him
to rank within the top 3 of Star-Moon Kingdom’s Ranking List. On Mount
Sogar, however, he was an insignificant existence. If he had not
possessed two Tier 3 Demons, he would not have made it up to this point.

Shi Feng had encountered multiple Level 50 Lords on his way up the
mountain. With his strength alone, unless he activated the Aura of
Space’s Space Movement, he would not have survived.

Meanwhile, a gigantic beast stood guard beside the massive pair of stone
doors.

This quest is absurdly difficult on so many levels... Shi Feng inwardly
laughed bitterly as he watched the gigantic beast.

[Nine-headed Magic Snake] (Ferocious Beast, Great Lord)

Level 55

HP 90,000,000/90,000,000

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Chapter 696 - Ferocious Beast

Ferocious Beasts were different from general Wild and Demonic Beasts.
They belonged to the ancient era.

During ancient times, Ferocious Beasts were monsters that fought even
Gods. Some Ferocious Beasts had even managed to kill Gods.

Ferocious Beasts were on the same level as Angels and Dragons,
possessing the strength to challenge opponents of a higher Tier.

In the past, Shi Feng had watched large Guilds raid Ferocious Beasts,
and he could describe those battles with a single word—intense.

Once, an army of ten thousand elite players and several hundred
first-rate and top-tier experts had attempted to raid a Ferocious Beast.
The players had all been above Level 100, whereas the Ferocious Beast
had only been Level 90. Some of those players had even been Tier 3
classes. In the end, although the players defeated the Ferocious Beast,
over 95% of the elites and half of the experts had died.

There was a massive difference in strength between players at Level 90
and players at Level 100. It was like the difference between Level 40
and Level 50. Equipment’s Attributes would undergo a massive improvement
at the Level 100 threshold. Monsters received a similar boost.

Yet, even with such a huge difference, the players who faced off against
the Ferocious Beast still suffered devastating losses.

Although the Nine-headed Magic Snake was only a Great Lord, unlike the
Level 90 Ferocious Beast that had been a Level 90 Grand Lord, it was
still a much higher level than Shi Feng.

At the very minimum, it would take a party of Level 60 players to take
down a Level 55 Great Lord ranked Ferocious Beast.

In Shi Feng’s opinion, if he wanted to kill this Ferocious Beast, he
needed at least 500 Level 60 and above Tier 2 players. Moreover, they
would need excellent equipment. Particularly, their weapons should be at
least Dark-Gold rank. Facing the Nine-headed Magic Snake with any less
would be suicide.

Unlike other monsters, Ferocious Beasts did not just possess immense
combat power. They also possessed the lifeforce passed down from ancient
times.

In combat, ordinary monsters’ battle recovery would only regenerate 1%
of their HPs every five seconds.

Ferocious Beasts’ battle recovery, on the other hand, regenerated 3% of
their HPs every five seconds. A Ferocious Beast’s HP already ranked at
the very top among monsters. They were practically Bug-like[1]
existences.

The Nine-headed Magic Snake had 90,000,000 HP. In battle, it could
recover 2,700,000 HP every five seconds. Even if Shi Feng multiplied his
damage output by ten, and the Great Lord stood motionless, he could not
kill it.

With such a powerful monster guarding the doors, it had been made clear
that underestimating this quest’s difficulty would be a mistake.

Even an Epic Quest wasn’t this absurdly difficult.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like I’m required to kill the Nine-headed
Magic Snake to pass through those doors. Shi Feng breathed a sigh of
relief as he shifted his gaze towards a small circular indentation in
the stone doors. The indentation was the perfect size for the Elemental
Core.

Weissman had said that the Elemental Core was both a map and a key.

Since there was a keyhole in the stone doors, he just needed to insert
the Elemental Core to open them. Moreover, with the Nine-headed Magic
Snake’s massive body, it would not be able to cross the threshold. As
long as Shi Feng reached the other side of the doors, he should be safe
from the Ferocious Beast.

However, trying to open the doors under the Snake’s nose was not going
to be easy.

It seems like I’ll have to sacrifice the Purgatory Demon. Shi Feng
noticed that the Purgatory Demon’s time in this world was already
nearing its end. Since it was going to disappear soon anyway, he might
as well put it to good use.

The Purgatory Demon had 13,000,000 HP. It should buy him some time.

Immediately, Shi Feng used Phantom Kill and sent his doppelganger away.
With this, should his life be in danger, he could escape.

As the doppelganger distanced itself from Shi Feng’s group, the
Swordsman directed the Purgatory Demon to charge towards the Nine-headed
Magic Snake.

Next to the Nine-headed Magic Snake, which was over 30 meters tall, the
Purgatory Demon looked like an insect. One bite from one of the Great
Lord would be enough to devour several Purgatory Demons.

When the Purgatory Demon was 30 yards away from the Nine-headed Magic
Snake, the latter yawned lazily as it whipped its tail forward.
Suddenly, the hill-like snake tail appeared before the Purgatory Demon.
Before Shi Feng could react, the Snake sent his Purgatory Demon hurtling
into a nearby stone wall.

When the Purgatory Demon slammed into the wall, a damage that the Demon
had never experienced before appeared above its head.

-267,849.

Shi Feng’s mouth twitched when he saw those numbers.

This damage far surpassed his expectations.

With a casual strike, the Nine-headed Magic Snake dealt nearly -270,000
damage. Despite both creatures being Tier 3, the difference in strength
was like heaven and earth.

“Since I can’t approach it, what about this?”

Shi Feng did not dare direct the Purgatory Demon to approach the
Ferocious Beast again. Instead, he used the Tier 3 Skill, Garuda’s
Flames.

Suddenly, a sea of fire rushed towards the Nine-headed Magic Snake.

This time, the Ferocious Beast finally woke. Suddenly, one of its
snakeheads opened its mouth and inhaled.

The beast sucked the flaming tide into its mouth, devouring the fire in
the blink of an eye.

“This...” Even Shi Feng was stunned.

This was his first battle against a Ferocious Beast. Although he had
known that the Purgatory Demon was no match for the Nine-headed Magic
Snake, he had not expected the Ferocious Beast to fend off the Purgatory
Demon’s attack with little to no effort. The difference between them was
absurd.

After devouring the sea of fire, that snakehead turned to stare at the
Purgatory Demon. In the next moment, it widened its mouth and spat out a
more powerful version of Garuda’s Flames. The flames were extremely
fast, and it took everything Shi Feng had just to get the Purgatory
Demon to dodge those flames. As for the sturdy stone walls that bore the
brunt of the molten attack, not only did the flames effortlessly tear
through the walls, but the stone also melted into glowing lava. In an
instant, over 50 meters of the stone wall disappeared.

“Is this the strength of the Nine-headed Magic Snake?” Shi Feng was
utterly baffled.

At this point, he even began to doubt whether the Nine-headed Magic
Snake was just a Great Lord.

Even several thousand Tier 2 players would not be a match for the
Ferocious Beast.

Moreover, based on the Magic Snake’s lazy attitude, it was obvious that
the Ferocious Beast was simply toying with him. It had yet to utilize
its true potential.

Helpless, Shi Feng could only use his final trump card.

The Purgatory Demon’s Tier 3 Taboo Skill, Spatial Suppression!

If he could not shift the Nine-headed Magic Snake’s attention towards
the Purgatory Demon, he would not have a chance to open the stone doors.

The power of a Tier 3 Taboo Skill could rival even an ordinary Tier 4
Skill. As the Nine-headed Magic Snake was both a Great Lord and a
Ferocious Beast, its combat power should be equivalent to Tier 4. In
theory, a Tier 3 Taboo Skill should deal damage to the Nine-headed Magic
Snake. Moreover, the damage should be relatively high.

When the Purgatory Demon swung its war axe at the Nine-headed Magic
Snake, Shi Feng silently prayed that the attack would wound the Great
Lord. Even a small amount of damage would be fine.

This time, the Nine-headed Magic Snake finally raised all nine of its
heads, its eyes locked onto the Purgatory Demon’s incoming war axe.
Suddenly, a hint of gravity appeared in its amber eyes.

Let this succeed! Shi Feng tightened his grip around the Elemental Core,
focused on the Nine-headed Magic Snake’s reaction.

When Spatial Suppression activated, everything the space surrounding the
Nine-headed Magic Snake suddenly grew incomparably heavy. One could not
move if they tried.

Yet, the Nine-headed Magic Snake still moved. Although it was extremely
slow, it was still capable of moving under the Spatial Suppression.

However, as its tail moved very slowly, Shi Feng could easily control
the Purgatory Demon to avoid the attack. The Demon’s war axe then struck
one of the Fierce Beast’s heads.

Boom!

The Nine-headed Magic Snake instantly lost that head as it fell to the
ground, forming a massive crater.

Meanwhile, the other eight heads simultaneously screamed in pain as a
massive amount of damage appeared above them.

-605,791!

TL Notes:

[1] Bug-like: This isn’t referring to a literal bug. It’s referring to a
computer program or system error.

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Chapter 697 - Super-large-scale Destruction Spell

After suddenly losing one of its heads, the Magic Snake’s eight
remaining heads glared at the Purgatory Demon, rage filling their amber
eyes. Less than a second later, however, the dismembered head grew back.
All nine of the Great Lord’s heads then abruptly opened their mouths and
spat out a gray beam.

Despite receiving a Tier 3 Taboo Skill, the Nine-headed Magic Snake’s
combat power had not decreased in the slightest.

Not daring to be careless, Shi Feng hurriedly directed the Purgatory
Demon to evade the beams and distance itself from the Ferocious Beast.

Anything the Snake’s beams touched turned into gray stone.

However, as the beast had fired nine gray beams, due to Shi Feng’s lack
of control over the Purgatory Demon, he accidentally allowed one of the
beams to strike on the Demon.

Instantly, the Purgatory Demon lost over 500,000 HP. Moreover, it was
also afflicted with the Petrified state, stealing more than 200,000 HP
every two seconds and 60% of its Movement Speed for 30 seconds.

“Isn’t this Petrification Skill a little too strong?!” Shi Feng used the
Aura of Water’s Skill, Life Bloom, on the Purgatory Demon the moment he
saw the debuff’s description.

While Petrified, not only would the Purgatory Demon lose massive amounts
of HP, but the Nine-headed Magic Snake could also easily catch up to it
due to the Movement Speed reduction. If that happened, the Purgatory
Demon would be a goner in less than 30 seconds.

With Life Bloom, however, the Purgatory Demon’s HP recovered at an
impressive rate.

Life Bloom recovered 60% of its target’s HP every second. With the
Purgatory Demon’s 13,000,000 HP, even if the Nine-headed Magic Snake
were more powerful, it would not instantly kill the Demon. Hence, for
the next 40 seconds, the Purgatory Demon was nearly invulnerable.

Immediately, Shi Feng used the Purgatory Demon to lure the Nine-headed
Magic Snake away from the massive stone doors.

Once the Ferocious Beast was 40 yards away, and Shi Feng was sure that
it focused on the Purgatory Demon fully, Shi Feng activated Windwalk and
dashed towards the stone doors.

Time ticked by, second after second. As Shi Feng approached the massive
stone doors, his heart rate rose rapidly.

If the Nine-headed Magic Snake discovered him now, he would die without
a doubt. Even if he relied on the temporarily-immortal Purgatory Demon,
he could not stop the Ferocious Beast from grinding him to a pulp.

By the time Shi Feng arrived at the stone doors, over six seconds had
passed. Meanwhile, the Purgatory Demon had lured the Nine-headed Magic
Snake 100 yards away from the stone doors and desperately tried to pin
it down, earning as much time for Shi Feng as possible.

To the Nine-headed Magic Snake, the Purgatory Demon was practically a
toy. Again and again, the Ferocious Beast smashed the Purgatory Demon
into the ground, damages in the hundreds of thousands appearing above
the Demon’s head. The Purgatory Demon had no power to resist.

Without wasting any time, Shi Feng immediately inserted the Elemental
Core into the small hole in the doors.

Suddenly, the magic arrays on the Elemental Core and inside the circular
hole shifted and aligned. They then released a faint, golden light. The
runes covering the pair of stone doors lit up, releasing a dazzling
golden glow. A moment later, the chains around the stone doors began to
shatter.

Faster!

Hurry up!

Shi Feng’s anxiety mounted as he watched the chains break, one after
another.

There were over 20 chains around the doors, yet each one took a full
second to break. It would take more than 20 seconds for the stone doors
to open.

As the chains shattered, the initially weak Divine Might grew stronger.

This is bad!

Shi Feng frowned as he turned to the Nine-headed Magic Snake, which
currently toyed with the Purgatory Demon. With the Divine Might growing
stronger, even he could sense it clearly now, not to mention the
Ferocious Beast that had guarded the doors all this time.

Sure enough, the Nine-headed Magic Snake sensed the increasing Divine
Might, and it could not help but turn to look at the stone doors.
Suddenly, it whipped its tail and sent the Purgatory Demon flying before
turning and slithered towards Shi Feng.

Meanwhile, ten chains remained on the doors. With the Nine-headed Magic
Snake’s speed, it did not need that much time to reach him.

With no other choice, Shi Feng directed the Curse Demon to use the Tier
3 Skill, Spiritual Blade, to attack the Ferocious Beast.

Spiritual Blade was not just a Magical Attack Skill; it was also capable
of forcing its target into a Confused state for 15 seconds. The Skill
could earn him enough time for the doors to open.

This time, due to the stone doors being unlocked, the Nine-headed Magic
Snake did not bother blocking the Spiritual Blade. Immediately, the
Ferocious Beast received over -300,000 damage, releasing a pained cry as
its massive body slid to a halt. Its eyes glazed over slightly.

“Good.” Shi Feng unconsciously sighed with relief.

Although the Nine-headed Magic Snake possessed relatively high Magic
Resistance, in the end, it was still only a Great Lord. A Tier 3 Skill
should still be effective against it.

As the chains continued to shatter, the Ferocious Beast’s glazed eyes
gradually regained clarity.

By the time the last three chains remained, the Nine-headed Magic Snake
woke from its stupor. It then released an earth-shaking roar, its cold,
amber eyes suddenly turning blood-red. Widening its mouths, it fired
multiple gray beams once more.

The Nine-headed Magic Snake had spat a total of nine gray beams. Each
one was more than enough to kill Shi Feng instantly. Moreover, the nine
beams sealed off any path of retreat. Shi Feng had nowhere to go.

Immediately, Shi Feng activated his Replace Skill.

In the next moment, Shi Feng’s doppelganger lost all of its HP as it
transformed into a gray statue. Following which, the doppelganger
shattered, becoming dust that scattered in the wind. It could not resist
the beams in the slightest.

Seeing Shi Feng vanish completely, the Nine-headed Magic Snake shifted
its attention towards the Curse Demon.

Shi Feng immediately directed the Curse Demon to escape.

To the Nine-headed Magic Snake, however, the Curse Demon was simply too
slow. After the Demon had taken a few steps, the Ferocious Beast caught
up to it. With a whip of its tail, the Nine-headed Magic Snake sent the
Curse Demon into a stone wall, destroying over 400,000 HP instantly.

In less than three seconds, the Curse Demon lost over 2,000,000 HP.

This is my chance. Shi Feng realized that all of the chains had finally
broken. He activated Space Movement and arrived before the doors once
more. Stretching out his hand, he twisted the Elemental Core.

As the Elemental Core produced a “click” sound, the massive stone doors
gradually opened.

Turning to take a look, the Nine-headed Magic Snake froze. It had never
imagined that Shi Feng would appear again. Thinking that its previous
Skill had been too weak, all nine of the Great Lord’s heads stretched
open their jaws once more. This time, however, the heads did not spit
gray beams.

Suddenly, a massive threefold magic array appeared above the stone
doors. The sky suddenly darkened as black winds moaned. The massive
magic array covered a radius of 300 yards, and even the distant
Purgatory Demon and Curse Demon were within the Ferocious Beast’s attack
range.

Shi Feng’s excited expression dropped.

Shi Feng had seen this Spell before.

The Tier 3 Curse, Dark Gale. The Curse was a super-large-scale
destruction Spell that lasted ten full seconds. At this moment, Shi Feng
had no defense against this Spell.

The Seven Luminaries Ring was still on Cooldown, so he could not switch
to the Aura of Earth or the Aura of Illusion. As for Defensive Blade,
the Skill’s block counts were not enough to block the Dark Gale
completely.

As the black gale tore at him, Shi Feng said his prayers as he activated
Defensive Blade.

The wind devoured all life it touched. In the blink of an eye, the
Defensive Blade’s nine block counts had been exhausted. Dark Gale had
caused nine instances of damage in just one second. Even with his Tier 1
Defensive Blade, Shi Feng would not last two seconds.

Meanwhile, the Purgatory Demon and Curse Demon each lost nearly 500,000
HP every second. The Nine-headed Magic Snake’s damage was terrifying.

“What a pity.”

As the black wind surrounded him, Shi Feng felt somewhat disappointed.
He was a thread away from opening and entering the stone doors. He had
never imagined that the Nine-headed Magic Snake would be so vicious to
use a Tier 3 Curse. Moreover, it was a super-large-scale destruction
Spell. The Ferocious Beast gave him no chance.

As the black wind swept in for a second attack...

Suddenly, the threefold magic array in the sky began to disappear. The
dark gale also dissipated into nothingness.

Before Shi Feng could figure out what was happening, the Nine-headed
Magic Snake cried painfully as its body rapidly turned into stone. It
then shattered into dust and rubble. Three shimmering items fell on top
of the pile of rubble.

The sound of a system notification suddenly reached Shi Feng’s ears.

“This is...”

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Chapter 698 - Strengthening Device

By now, Shi Feng was quite familiar with the Nine-headed Magic Snake’s
strength.

To current players, it was practically invincible. It didn’t matter how
many players came here to raid it.

Meanwhile, in Shi Feng’s mind, he had never actually thought of killing
the Nine-headed Magic Beast. Since the beginning, he had only thought of
luring it away from the stone doors.

He had never expected the Great Lord to die.

For a time, Shi Feng was speechless.

However, when he heard the sound of the system notification, he more or
less understood what had happened.

System: Blood Refining Passage has been opened. Do you wish to enter?
(Time remaining: 1 hour 59 minutes)

So it turns out that, as this place’s guardian beast, if the stone doors
open, the guardian dies. It’s no wonder why the Nine-headed Magic Snake
was so desperate. Shi Feng inwardly celebrated as he stared at the
rubble that used to be the Nine-headed Magic Snake.

Unfortunately, he had not killed the Snake. Otherwise, with the EXP from
the Ferocious Beast, he might have risen several levels.

With the stone doors open and quite some time before they closed again,
Shi Feng did not hurry into the Blood Refining Passage. Instead, he
approached the Nine-headed Magic Snake’s remains, hoping to take a
closer look at what items the Ferocious Beast had dropped.

Although he was not responsible for the Nine-headed Magic Snake’s death,
as a monster, it would still drop some items after dying. Only, it would
drop significantly fewer items.

The Nine-headed Magic Snake had been a Great Lord ranked Ferocious
Beast. Even the most inferior item it would drop was not something one
would find from an ordinary Great Lord.

Among the three items, one was a magical, pure-black cube covered with
blood-red runes. The item was called Blood Refining Stone, and it could
be used inside the Blood Refining World.

As for the other two items, one was a silver, fang-like dagger, while
the other was a drawing.

Sure enough, a Ferocious Beast’s loot is amazing. It even dropped an
Epic dagger. Shi Feng was momentarily stunned.

[Petrified Thorn] (Dagger, Epic Rank)

Level 40 - Level 100

Equipment Requirement: Strength 550, Agility 400

Attributes adjust according to user’s level.

Attack Power +1,165 (Currently Level 40)

Strength +92, Agility +101, Endurance +60

Strength increased by 10%.

Agility increased by 10%

Attack Speed +12

Evasion +20

All Skills +2 Levels

Ignore Levels +20

Ignore 20% of the target’s Defense.

Damage from sneak attacks increase by 20%.

Level requirement to equip all items decreased by 5 Levels.

Durability 300/300

Attacks have:

30% chance to inflict Petrified effect, reducing target’s weapon damage
by 10% each second and Movement Speed by 60% for 6 seconds.

30% chance to trigger Fatal Blow effect, increasing damage by 220%.

Additional Skill 1-

Devour Magic: Absorbs magic damage equal to 300% of user’s maximum HP
for 15 seconds. Damage absorbed can be converted into a single attack,
dealing twice the amount of damage absorbed to an area of 5*50 yards in
front of user.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Additional Skill 2-

Petrification Domain: Enemies within 50 yards receive 500% weapon damage
and have their Movement Speed reduced by 50% for 10 seconds. Increases
the user’s Agility, Strength, and Movement Speed with each target hit.
Agility and Strength can increase to a maximum of 30%, while Movement
Speed can increase to a maximum of 100% for 30 seconds.

Cooldown: 1 hour

Fire Dance really lucked out this time. She’ll be able to equip this
once she reaches Level 40. Only, the dagger’s Strength requirement is
somewhat high. I’ll have to figure out a way to increase her Strength.
Shi Feng happily stored away the Petrified Thorn.

Although the Truefire Blades Fire Dance wielded were top-tier Dark-Gold
Weapons, they were on a completely different level compared to the
Petrified Thorn.

At the end of the day, even the most powerful Dark-Gold Weapon was only
a mortal’s weapon.

An Epic Weapon, on the other hand, was a true Extraordinary Weapon.

The Petrified Thorn’s Attack Power was especially frightening. The
dagger’s 1,165 Attack Power was even higher than a Level 40 Dark-Gold
ranked two-handed weapon. Not to mention, there were the Strength and
Agility increases the dagger provided. If Fire Dance equipped this
dagger, she could slice through players as if she were dicing
vegetables.

Following which, Shi Feng’s gaze shifted towards the tattered drawing.

[Strengthening Device Forging Design]

Can strengthen player equipment, significantly reducing the consumption
of Durability.

Required materials: 1 Magic Crystal, 10 Mithril Ore, 2 Intermediate Mana
Recovery Potions, and 1 Basic Alchemy Array.

“Is this real?! Even something like this dropped?” Shi Feng muttered in
surprise.

In God’s Domain, monsters would grow more powerful as they reached
higher levels. Take the monsters players currently faced for example;,
not only did they possess very high Attack Power, but they could also
significantly reduce equipment Durability. It was why the various Guilds
were forced to repair their equipment in Stone Forest Town.

Players could repair weapons with Whetstones and Advanced Whetstones.
However, there were no such recovery items for equipment.

However, there were items that could reinforce equipment.

The Strengthening Device was one such item. Only, its forging design was
extremely hard to obtain. It only dropped from Level 50 and above Great
Lord ranked Field Bosses. Dungeons would not drop the design.

Moreover, the Strengthening Device was a Consumable item. It could not
be permanently equipped.

Fortunately, the forging process was very simple, and the item also had
relatively high Durability. Players could put it to good use for a
relatively long period. If they dodged attacks properly, they could
extend the Strengthening Device’s lifespan even further.

However, one of the raw materials required was not that easy to obtain.

While Mithril Ore, Intermediate Mana Recovery Potions, and Basic Alchemy
Arrays were both cheap and easily available, it was a different story
for Magic Crystals. Magic Crystals were always rare and valuable.

Hence, crafting Strengthening Devices was expensive. Each one would cost
roughly 30 Silver to produce.

Even so, there were still a large number of players willing to purchase
it.

While ordinary players were willing to waste some time traveling back to
towns and cities to repair their equipment, large Guilds were not as
willing. To them, time was money.

In the past, a Strengthening Device’s standard price was 2 Gold. During
its peak, however, the price soared to 4 Gold due to high demand and low
supply.

Currently, the various large Guilds of Star-Moon Kingdom and several
neighboring kingdoms had sent many of their members to the Stoneclaw
Mountains. Obviously, the Strengthening Devices could offer some
convenience.

Just the amount of time and repair fees the Strengthening Devices could
save them were worth more than 4 Gold.

It seems I’ll have to find some opportunity to grind Level 50 Field
Great Lords. With one Strengthening Device Forging Design, I won’t even
be able to produce enough for the Guild members. Shi Feng suddenly
thought of a profitable business idea.

If he waited too long, the Strengthening Devices would not be as
profitable.

Just as Shi Feng finished organizing his items and was about to enter
the Blood Refining Passage...

He suddenly discovered over a hundred unread messages in his inbox.

Among them, over 90% were from Aqua Rose.

There were also messages from Gentle Snow and Fire Dance. They had all
sent these messages around the same time.

After he had reached Mount Sogar’s core, he had worried that he would
get himself killed while receiving a message. Hence, he had blocked all
calls and messages for the time being.

“What happened? Why are they so anxious?” Shi Feng wondered as he opened
the messages.

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Chapter 699 - Banished

“The Flower of Seven Sins?”

A serious expression overcame Shi Feng when he saw this name.

He had not expected that Exemplary Willow to be so vicious.

It would have been fine had she just hired a bunch of Red Names and
small Workshops to harass Zero Wing. At most, it would make things a
little difficult for the Guild. However, it was a completely different
story if she hired the Flower of Seven Sins.

As a mysterious assassin organization of the virtual gaming world,
nearly every virtual reality game contained traces of the Flower of
Seven Sins. In the past, the Flower of Seven Sins had even developed
itself into one of God’s Domain’s peak powers.

No Guild could afford to offend the Flower of Seven Sins.

As long as one could afford the organization’s price, these assassins
could even take out a Super Guild’s Guild Leader. Everyone was afraid of
them.

In the past, five Super Guilds had banded together to suppress the
Flower of Seven Sins, threatening to retaliate if the organization
accepted any assassination requests on their respective Guilds’ upper
echelons. Unfortunately, those Super Guilds’ efforts had been futile. In
less than ten days, all five Super Guilds gave up on suppressing the
assassin organization; the Flower of Seven Sins had made a statement by
killing their upper echelons once. There were even God-ranked experts
among those who had died. From then on, the various Super Guilds in
God’s Domain no longer bothered with the Flower of Seven Sins.

Back then, the incident had shaken God’s Domain. The Flower of Seven
Sins had become a power that no one would dare provoke.

However, the organization’s asking price was also extraordinarily high.
Even Open Source Corporation should feel a sting from the cost of hiring
the organization.

Exemplary Willow must’ve hired the Flower of Seven Sins to deal with
Zero Wing’s upper echelons. Even OSC can’t afford to target the entire
Guild. Shi Feng gave the situation some thought.

The best method to deal with Zero Wing was to kill the Guild’s upper
echelons to Level 0. This would certainly collapse both Zero Wing’s
strength and reputation.

As for the possibility of the Flower of Seven Sins failing to carry out
their contract...

Since its creation, the Flower of Seven Sins had never once failed a
job. Their strength was practically endless.

Even Shi Feng was not confident of surviving an assassination attempt
from the Flower of Seven Sins right now, not to mention the Guild’s
other members.

If I remember correctly, before the Flower of Seven Sins takes action,
the organization usually invests some time to investigate their target’
before taking action. In the past, the Flower of Seven Sins would take
anywhere from five to ten days to collect information. If Exemplary
Willow went directly to them and hired the organization after she
returned from our meeting, I should still have roughly four days before
the organization takes action.

If their target is much stronger than their initial estimations, the
Flower of Seven Sins will adjust their quote to their employer and will
only take action after their employer agrees to the new price.

Right now, the best way to avoid this mess is to increase the strength
of the Guild’s upper echelons significantly within four days, forcing
the Flower of Seven Sins to renew their price. If that happened,
Exemplary Willow might not consider the price worth it and give up on
the organization altogether.

Shi Feng had some understanding of the Flower of Seven Sins’ rules and
pricing.

Killing a system-recognized, third-rate expert cost 500,000 Credits. The
price increased depending on the expert’s strength. Moreover, this was
only the price for one death.

As for system-recognized, second-rate experts, the minimum asking price
was 3,000,000 Credits.

The minimum price for first-rate experts was 10,000,000 Credits.

Top-tier experts cost 100,000,000 Credits at the very minimum.

Above them would be apex experts, and the organization charged upwards
of 500,000,000 Credits for each kill. Ordinary people could never afford
the Flower of Seven Sins. Only those large Guilds and corporations with
significant financial strength could do so.

However, rather than spend so much money to kill an opponent, it was
more cost effective to send their own men to get the job done. Hence,
only when one had no other options would they employ the Flower of Seven
Sins.

This was precisely the case for Exemplary Willow right now. At this
point, even the Star Alliance was helpless against Zero Wing in the
Star-Moon Kingdom, not to mention Twilight Echo, which did not have the
home ground advantage.

The cost of killing Zero Wing’s upper echelons to Level 0 was
astronomical. Only a massive existence like the Open Source Corporation
could afford such a price.

Currently, the Flower of Seven Sins had yet to determine the strength of
Zero Wing’s upper echelons. Based on Shi Feng’s estimates, killing a
fifth-floor expert of the Trial Tower should cost at least 500,000
Credits, a sixth-floor expert would cost at least 3,000,000 Credits, a
seventh-floor expert would cost around 10,000,000 Credits, and an
eight-floor expert should cost at least 100,000,000 Credits.

Currently, Zero Wing upper management consisted of more than 20 players,
and the majority were sixth-floor experts. Only Fire Dance and Violet
Cloud had reached the seventh floor. If everyone could improve their
strength, the cost of killing them would increase exponentially. At that
time, even OSC would have to reconsider.

Following which, Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose, instructing her to turn
the Guild’s upper echelons’ focus on improving their strength and
progressing through the Trial Tower as much as possible. Shi Feng would
also go all-out to supply everyone with the Hundred Berry Wine.

Although Aqua Rose did not understand Shi Feng’s intentions, since he
had given the order, she had no choice but to do as he wished.

For a time, Zero Wing’s upper echelons ceased grinding monsters in the
Stoneclaw Mountains. Instead, they focused on their progression in the
Trial Tower.

As for Gentle Snow’s message, she wanted to inform Shi Feng of OSC’s
investment into the Star Alliance, becoming one of the Guild’s major
shareholders. She also stated that OSC intended to deal with Zero Wing,
so he should be wary of the Star Alliance.

Naturally, Shi Feng had already taken appropriate measures to protect
Zero Wing.

Hence, not long after Shi Feng read Gentle Snow’s message, shocking news
spread throughout Star-Moon City.

Stone Forest Town was no longer open to the Star Alliance. Any Guild
that was affiliated with the Star Alliance was also barred from Stone
Forest Town.

This incident instantly attracted the attention of every player in the
capital city.

Everyone was confused as to why Zero Wing would suddenly declare war
against the Star Alliance.

The Stoneclaw Mountains had long since become an iconic symbol of
Star-Moon City. Meanwhile, Stone Forest Town was an indispensable
resting place for players grinding in the Stoneclaw Mountains.

Without this resting place, the Star Alliance would fall far behind the
other Guilds. Of course, the Star Alliance could seek the aid of others
to help them repair their equipment in Stone Forest Town. However, Shi
Feng had prepared for that as well.

Shi Feng had limited the amount of equipment players could repair.

In other words, in addition to one’s own equipment, players visiting
Stone Forest Town could only help one other player repair a set of
equipment once. Moreover, he also placed a limit on the players’ Levels;
only players who were Level 30 or above were allowed to repair their
equipment in the town.

With this, he restricted the Star Alliance’s options of repairing
equipment in Stone Forest Town.

---

“Can someone tell me what is going on here?” When Galaxy Past received
this information, he nearly jumped out of his seat from anger.

The situation had changed so suddenly that even Galaxy Past did not
understand what had happened.

Why had Zero Wing turned against them?

The Star Alliance had only considered striking out against Zero Wing.
The Guild had yet to take such considerations seriously. Yet, Zero Wing
chose to humiliate the Star Alliance publicly.

The Star Alliance had already mobilized the majority of its combat power
to the Stoneclaw Mountains. If the Star Alliance’s members could not
rest in Stone Forest Town, how was the Guild supposed to compete with
the other Guilds?

Silence filled conference hall. This was the first time anyone had seen
Galaxy Past so furious.

“Guild Leader, maybe Zero Wing made this move because they think that we
are becoming too big of a threat?” Purple Eye was also confused by Zero
Wing’s drastic actions. They had clearly minded their own business until
just recently.

“Zero Wing must’ve found out about OSC’s investment into the Star
Alliance,” Red Feather reasoned.

“Even if we have OSC’s support, there is no reason for this. Zero Wing
has clearly made us out to be their greatest enemy,” Purple Eye said as
she shook her head.

“Go. Contact Black Flame immediately.” Galaxy Past agreed with Purple
Eye’s opinion. He needed to sort out this matter with Black Flame
properly.

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