Expansion
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Since he was currently in a Weakened state with 80% of his attributes reduced, Feng chose to log out and wait for it to pass while resting.
---
Meanwhile, back in White River City, Black Flame had grown bored of constantly making Intermediate Mana Armor Kits and decided to embark on his own small journey.
During the entire time Feng had been in the Dark Den and at the World Summit, Black Flame, apart from occasionally going to create more Designs for the Intermediate Mana Armor Kits whenever Creator's Rights was off cooldown and to raid powerful bosses when Blade Liberation was available, hadn't stepped away from his forging table to create items.
In fact, ever since he was created around a week ago, 95% of everything the Perfect Clone had done was forging, with 99% of that forging time having been spent on making Intermediate Mana Armor Kits.
Thanks to the large number of Intermediate Mana Armor Kits' Design copies provided by Black Flame, not only did Candlelight currently have the capability to prepare all of the Intermediate Mana Armor Kits promised to the various powers within the previously agreed time limit, but the Trading Firm could even afford to sell a decent quantity at some of its Shops; racking in a lot more profit.
After having spent the last few days barely even moving from his spot in the Forging Room, something that even Feng had never done in his previous life, as, regardless of how busy with needing to quickly create some items within a short time frame he was, Feng would still sometimes log out to check on the situation in the guild, or at least take an occasional breather, Black Frame was done.
By now, he had grown sick of making the damn things, and with him having already created dozens of copy Designs for the Intermediate Mana Armor Kits, the Perfect Clone also didn't have to bother as much with them since he had other people working on the job.
Hence, Black Flame decided to do something else for a bit and finish another task in order to pull himself away from forging Mana Kits.
Exiting the Forging Room, Black Flame headed to Cocoa's workplace, retrieving the Book of Creation from her and making another Intermediate Mana Armor Kit Forging Design.
After creating the copy, Black Flame gave the Book of Creation back to Cocoa for her to continue working on forging more Levellume Capsules and other high-ranking items, and left the 3-star Candlelight Trading Firm.
He then headed towards the Bank, entering Feng's Private Warehouse, to which Black Flame had been given access to by his main body, before opening one of the cabinets, a freezing aura washing over him and the entire Warehouse, and retrieving the Holy Grail.
Ten days have already passed since Feng had used the Holy Grail to upgrade Icarus's Heart to Fragmented Legendary rank.
At the moment, the cooldown of the Legendary item's Power of Evolution skill was already finished and could be activated once again to upgrade another item to Legendary rank.
The only thing left was to decide on which item it was going to be used on.
Ideally, the best option would be to upgrade Icarus's Heart once again and promote the incredible tool for Luck to Legendary. The benefits Feng and he would get from having the Legendary ranked Icarus's Heart like Feng did in the previous timeline, this time even more powerful due to the Necklace receiving the Power of Evolution's secret effect, Goddess's Grace, would bring their acquisition of powerful and rare treasures to brand new heights.
Unfortunately, since Feng had already used the Power of Evolution skill on Icarus's Heart once before, its effects would be greatly reduced a second time, and the chances of Icarus's Heart reaching Legendary rank would be very slim.
Considering that he had other ways to upgrade Icarus's Heart to Legendary with a much higher probability of it succeeding which would come around fairly soon, risking the process of evolution failing on the Necklace with its small chances of working wouldn't be worth it.
There was also the problem of Black Flame merely being a clone, so the equipment and weapons on him were all also cloned items. The two of them had never experimented with what would happen if a cloned item gets upgraded, and they didn't know with one hundred percent certainty that Feng would be able to just download the newly upgraded Legendary item's information for himself.
Although it should logically work, it wouldn't be smart to possibly throw away the opportunity to get another Legendary item at this stage of the game where the early beginning and preparations were crucial.
But they also couldn't wait for Feng to return, since they didn't know how much longer it would take for him to finish his business at the World Summit, since skills like the Power of Evolution should be used immediately after their cooldowns ended in order to maximize their utilization and benefits gained from the skill.
So, Feng and Black Flame had decided beforehand that, if Feng still wasn't back by the time the Power of Evolution was available for usage and didn't seem like he'd be coming back fairly soon, it would be the most optimal to upgrade a different item that wasn't something cloned by the Ethereal Replicant Core to Legendary rank.
With that in mind, after taking into consideration their current needs and what would be the most useful for their future plans, Feng and Black Flame had decided to upgrade the Holy Cavers Orb, a Fragmented Legendary item Feng had obtained after looting the Holy Cavers' treasury upon completing a Hidden Epic Quest he came across in the Level 50 Miner's Paradise map.
Previously, Feng had seen how useful the ghosts of Miners summoned by the Holy Cavers Orb could be when he utilized the Fragmented Legendary Tool to greatly increase his mining efficiency of the Seven Luminaries Mountain and amount of Seven Luminaries Crystals he managed to obtain, which wouldn't have been possible at the rate the mountain was disintegrating.
Even though he hadn't used the Holy Cavers Orb since then, that's only because Feng had been busy with other matters and didn't come across a proper opportunity to put the labor force of one hundred Miners into action.
Now, though, when he finishes completing the Darkness Descends Quest, the two of them would have more free time to go around God's Domain and occupy all of the spots with valuable resources like Ore Veins.
However, the number of players who could work at those Ore Veins and mine the ores there for Zero Wing was very small, since unrestored members wouldn't have high enough Miner ranks to get the job done sufficiently and they couldn't be completely trusted, while the number of restored members among the Candlelight members who were proficient with the Miner Subclass could be counted on one hand; and they all had some other Subclass that they prioritized above being Miners.
Given that they had an insufficient amount of manpower that could take on the task of mining high-ranking ores, it would be impossible to commence any operations concerning harvesting important Ore Veins before any of the other powers could get to them.
Giving up on the headstart and benefits Zero Wing could get by starting to acquire resources from these Ore Veins was something Feng and Black Flame weren't willing to do, though.
The only alternative would be to hire NPC Miners to get the job done instead of players, but that had its own downsides, as although players could hire NPCs to mine ores on their behalf, the cost would increase depending on the value of the ore vein. Simply put, the NPCs would take a cut of the ores they mined.
Making such a loss because of something like lacking manpower was a scenario they would prefer avoiding unless absolutely necessary.
With the Holy Cavers Orb, this problem could be slightly reduced with a force of one hundred Miners, but that number couldn't cover all of the Ore Veins Feng and Black Flame wanted to get their hands on.
If it were to be upgraded to Legendary rank, however, the Tool's abilities and possible benefits could increase exponentially, so the two of them came to the decision it would be for the best to upgrade the Holy Cavers Orb when the Power of Evolution's cooldown ends.
Taking out the Holy Cavers Orb, Black Flame tapped on the touchscreen that was very close to the Holy Grail, choosing to use the Power of Evolution and proceeding to select the orb in his hand as the target of evolution.
System: Are you willing to permanently lose 22,500 HP to evolve the Holy Caver Orb?
Black Flame clicked "Agree" without any hesitation.
The HP he currently had wasn't his own, and any decrease to it would be negated once the main body upgrades its Perfect Clone, so upgrading stuff with the Holy Grail had become essentially free thanks to the Ethereal Replicant Core.
Suddenly, the strength of the Holy Grail's Divine Might soared.
In the next moment, strands of green light flowed from Black Flame's body and into the Holy Grail. After the Holy Grail absorbed 22,500 HP from Black Flame, it fired a purple ray at the Holy Cavers Orb in the Swordsman's hand.
Immediately, the Holy Cavers Orb released a brilliant golden glow, forcing Black Flame to squint his eyes.
After the golden radiance faded, Black Flame fully opened his eyes and looked at the Holy Cavers Orb's information.
[Holy Cavers Orb] (Legendary Item)
The Holy Cavers Orb contains the soul remnants of the Holy Cavers' members
Additional Active Skill 1: Holy Cavers Squad
Summons phantoms of Miners to mine for one day at the cost of Magic Crystals. The number of phantoms that can be summoned at one time depends on the user's Miner rank. Up to a maximum of 2 Holy Miners, 50 Grandmaster Miners, and 300 Master Miners can be summoned at one time.
Basic Miner Apprentice - 10 magic crystals
Intermediate Miner Apprentice - 20 magic crystals
Advanced Miner Apprentice - 30 magic crystals
Basic Miner - 100 magic crystals
Intermediate Miner - 200 magic crystals
Advanced Miner - 300 magic crystals
Basic Master Miner - 1,000 magic crystals
Intermediate Master Miner - 2,000 magic crystals
Advanced Master Miner - 3,000 magic crystals
Basic Grandmaster Miner - 10,000 magic crystals
Intermediate Grandmaster Miner - 20,000 magic crystals
Advanced Grandmaster Miner - 30,000 magic crystals
Holy Miner - 50,000 magic crystals
Cooldown: 1 day
Additional Active Skill 2: Holy Cavers Treasury
All of the ores mined by the phantoms get transported to a designated treasury with a delay of 24 hours after activation.
Cooldown: 120 hours
Additional Active Skill 3: Possessed Miner
Imbude yourself with the spirit of one of the Holy Cavers, obtaining all of their Talents, abilities, and Miner rank for 5 minutes. (Cannot choose any Holy Caver whose Miner rank is more than one stage higher than the user)
Cooldown: 1 day
Additional Active Skill 4: Miner's Domain
Separates an area of a 100-yard-radius from the rest of the world which creatures below Tier 6 cannot enter. Within the Miner's Domain, Mining Speed increased by 450%, Stamina Consumption while mining decreased by 95%, Stamina Recovery increased by 150%, Mining Proficiency gain increased by 1,000%, Ore gain increased by 200%, and Miner rank increased by one (up to a maximum of Basic Grandmaster Miner) for all players.
Duration: 1 hour
Cooldown: 2 days
Compared to how it was at Fragmented Legendary rank, the Holy Cavers Orb was now far more powerful. It was definitely the best item related to mining that Black Flame, or more like Feng since he possesses the original body's memories, had ever seen.
Not only was the number of Miner phantoms that could be summoned at one time no longer limited to just one hundred, but it could increase along with the user's own Miner rank.
After checking, Black Flame discovered that the number of phantoms one could summon corresponded to their rank similarly to the price of summoning a Miner of that rank, as he, being a Basic Master Miner, could summon up to one thousand phantoms.
"Seems like we're going to have to restore one of the previous high-ranking Miners and have them grind for Mining Proficiency." Black Flame decided upon seeing the requirements for the Holy Cavers Orb's most optimal usage.
Although he and Feng were already Master Miners, they had too many responsibilities and didn't have the time to increase their Miner rank any further.
Hence, they'd simply have someone else quickly increase their rank while giving them resources.
The Holy Cavers Orb itself has some pretty incredible abilities that will be of great help to whoever Feng chooses from the people currently available to them for the restoration process, so having them quickly reach the rank of a Grandmaster Miner shouldn't be too difficult when coupled with the other Mining Tools Feng has obtained during this timeline.
At that time, they'd have 10,000 Miner phantoms active at all times, making harvesting all the Ore Veins far more feasible, and that's just with the player being a Basic Grandmaster Miner.
Finished with his personal business, Black Flame made a trip to White River City's City Hall.
"Hello, sir. How may I be of service?" The NPC beauty behind the VIP counter amicably asked Feng.
"I wish to upgrade the Candlelight Trading Firm to 4-star status. Here is the Promotion Order," Black Flame said as he handed the 4-star Shop Promotion Order to the NPC.
Previously, when Feng was setting up Candlelight's Shops and promoting their ranks, he hadn't upgraded the Candlelight Trading Firm's main Shop to 4-star status even though he had obtained a 4-star Promotion Order precisely because of the high price and required money to get the best possible Shop.
Although he had indeed possessed a lot of Gold Coins at the time, there were still many other things that required funds and needed to be invested into, so he couldn't afford the pricey expenditure that is a 4-star Shop, and since it hadn't been necessary or important to have one considering the 3-star option he had available was more than enough to fulfill Candlelight's needs, Feng had decided to postpone the upgrade.
Now that the Candlelight Trading Firm is fully operational in fifty locations and selling its products, earning quite the income with Candlelight having obtained around 4,000,000 Gold Coins since its grand opening, Feng could afford to splurge on a 4-star Shop.
Similar to the qualitative transformation players underwent when they rose from Tier 2 to Tier 3, Shops would transform when they were upgraded from 3-star to 4-star status. Shops in God's Domain were considered Basic rank from 1- to 3-star status, but once they reached 4-star status, they'd become an Advanced Shop.
Not only would all of the Shop's existing functions improve, but it would also gain new major functions.
The first was the Research Workshop.
The Research Workshop would be tremendously helpful to Lifestyle players as they worked to rise through the ranks. It could examine data on existing items and identify their deficiencies.
Players could then modify and improve these items, thereby creating a new item. It was easy to imagine how helpful this would be to Lifestyle players.
The Research Workshops were a large part of the reason the various superpowers had been able to nurture Master, and even Grandmaster, Lifestyle players during Feng's previous lives, more so during the first timeline.
Without these workshops, the various superpowers would've, at most, been able to nurture Master Lifestyle players, even if they relied on all sorts of rare materials.
None of them would've had enough super-rare materials to nurture a Grandmaster.
Even the Candlelight Trading Firm will greatly benefit from a Research Workshop, as although it had the restored members to create rare and difficult items, with Feng prioritizing combat players, their numbers were limited.
So help with developing the firm's players with high potential who Feng couldn't restore at the moment, or at all, will lessen the load these reincarnators had to shoulder, and would also increase the unrestored players' production speed by a large margin.
The second ability the Shop would gain with its 4-star status would help a power dominate the market.
The Shared Warehouse.
At 4-star status, a Shop would gain a Shared Warehouse and the ability to create similar warehouses in five 3-star Shops. These Shared Warehouses would be connected.
The function might not seem glamorous, but countless powers dreamed of having such an ability.
With a Shared Warehouse, a power could transfer items across long distances at no cost, including non-bag space items.
Transporting non-bag space items had always been a huge problem in God's Domain, and the Shared Warehouse was one of the few methods that could solve this problem.
There was a catch, of course. Once items had been placed in the Shared Warehouse, they'd be frozen for 24 hours, locked in the warehouse. Moreover, there was an extremely limited amount of space for non-bag space items. At the 4-star status, the Shared Warehouse could only hold up to 200 non-bag space items at a time.
Even so, the function would save a lot of money and transportation time. Most importantly, this method of relocating items was safe.
Due to these two functions, not even powers with 100 3-star Shops could compete with those that had a 4-star and a few 3-star Shops for dominance over the market.
When the NPC administrator saw the 4-star Shop Promotion Order, she gave Black Flame an odd look.
"Sir, do you really wish to promote your Shop to 4-star status?" She asked for confirmation.
"I do." Black Flame answered with a nod.
"Sir, a 4-star Shop isn't like normal Shops. If you promote your Shop to 4-star status, as per our prior agreement, the kingdom's laws will no longer be able to protect your Shop. Rather, you will take full control and responsibility for the land and any danger you encounter." The NPC administrator slowly explained.
Without the country's protection, players could do whatever they wanted in these Shops, and NPC soldiers wouldn't even bat an eye. If they stole from the Shop, they wouldn't have to worry about the NPC soldiers capturing and jailing them for a month, and the various large Guilds' Shops usually sold incredibly precious treasures. If players could steal these items without repercussions, they'd certainly try.
If a power wasn't strong enough to protect its products and 4-star Shop, the Shop it had gone to such great lengths to nurture would be crippled.
"Sir, do you still wish to promote your Shop?" The NPC administrator asked again.
"Yes." Black Flame confirmed, having already known about this trait of 4-star Shops.
There was a lot of risk to upgrading a Shop to 4-star status, but the risks were insignificant compared to the benefits. Now, all he had to do was to figure out how to improve the Shop's security, which wouldn't be that difficult considering the disparity in strength between God's Domain's powers and Zero Wing.
"The cost of rebuilding and expanding your territory will be calculated independently. Here are the reconstruction and expansion options. You may choose whichever you wish. If you are not satisfied with the results, you may reconstruct and expand again." The NPC administrator said, smiling as she handed Black Flame a list.
Reconstruction meant adding new floors to the Shop. In this regard, he had three choices: 12 floors, 15 floors, and 21 floors. They would cost 20,000 Gold, 40,000 Gold, and 100,000 Gold, respectively.
The expansion cost was even more ruthless. Gaining 40% more land would cost 50,000 Gold, while each additional 10% would cost 30,000 Gold to a maximum of a 100% expansion.
This was even more expensive than constructing a city!
But Black Flame didn't hesitate and immediately chose the 21-story option and expanded the Shop's land by 100%.
Unlike 3-star Shops, which had a fixed number of Special Workshops and Meditation Rooms, a 4-star Shop with more floors could contain more Special Workshops and Meditations Rooms.
For example, the 15-story version would only have 30 Special Workshops, while the 21-story building would have 50 Special Workshops.
As for the Basic Meditation Room, a 21-story Shop would have as many as 12 in total, which would be more than enough to satisfy Candlelight's Lifestyle players.
Unfortunately, the number of total floors wouldn't affect the number of Research Workshops the Shop possessed. Even in the 21-story Shop, the Shop would only have a single Research Workshop.
As for the additional land, that would only allow the Shop to accommodate more players, but Black Flame still chose to expend as much as possible in order to increase efficiency.
"Alright. Your bill comes to 330,000 Gold," the NPC administrator said, flashing Black Flame a bright smile. "Once you've completed the payment, our men will head over and start the reconstruction. The process should take half an hour. During this time, nobody will be allowed into the Shop."
"That won't be a problem." Black Flame replied.
After Black Flame completed the payment, the NPC administrator handed him the Deed to the Candlelight Trading Firm. Once the Shop's reconstruction was complete, White River City's Candlelight Trading Firm would become Feng's personal possession. He would then be responsible for the Shop's security.
Having finished with upgrading Candlelight's Shop in White River City, Black Flame, after contacting Zero Wing's managers about handling the Shop's security, headed to the Adventurer's Association.
Meanwhile, chaos filled the street outside of the Candlelight Trading Firm. As soon as Black Flame had paid for the promotion, every player that had been in the Shop had been teleported to the street outside. The abrupt interruption had left the shoppers and Candlelight members stunned.
"What's going on? Why was I forced out of the Shop?"
"Crap! I wasn't done shopping! What is Candlelight trying to do?! Does it want our business or not?!"
The customers that had been teleported out of the Shop flew into a rage.
Though, as the magic barrier enveloping the Candlelight Trading Firm dissipated not long after, they were all instantly silenced.
As the barrier disappeared, it revealed a 100-meter tall building. The nearby player-owned Shops, which were only four or five stories tall, and the NPC Shops, which were about a dozen stories tall, looked like children next to the upgraded Candlelight Trading Firm...
The Candlelight Trading Firm's new appearance stupefied every player on the street.
"It's massive!"
"What did Zero Wing do?"
They were overcome with shock as they gazed up at the humongous Candlelight Trading Firm. The surrounding player-owned Shops might look extravagant, but they were nothing compared to Candlelight's 100-meter-tall Shop.
The merchant players were particularly stunned, staring with wide eyes and dropped jaws at the new Candlelight Trading Firm Shop.
Ordinary players didn't usually understand God's Domain's rules regarding its Shops, but merchant players like them were very familiar with these rules and regulations.
Shop construction in NPC cities was heavily regulated. Players couldn't simply build as many floors as they wanted. For example, a 3-star Shop could only have up to nine floors.
And yet, the Candlelight Trading Firm in White River City now had 21 floors!
Not only could a Shop display more merchandise with more floors, but it could also house more Lifestyle players.
An ordinary Shop's environment couldn't compare to that of the various subclasses' associations, but once it reached 3-star status, a Shop would offer better Advanced Workshops than the subclass associations. This was one of the factors that attracted so many Lifestyle players to White River City's Candlelight Trading Firm. Moreover, there wasn't a limit to how many Advanced Workshops a 3-star Shop could have as long as it had enough space for all of them.
---
In the second-floor reception hall of the Adventurer's Association:
"Excuse me, I want to promote the Zero Wing Guild." Black Flame said to the administrator as he handed him a 3-star Guild Residence Promotion Order.
"May I know which Guild Residence you wish to promote to a 3-star Residence?" the administrator asked after receiving the Promotion Order.
"The Guild Residence in White River City," Black Flame said in a straightforward manner.
White River City was Zero Wing's base camp. It was also extremely safe, as it was located in a major NPC city. Moreover, it wouldn't be long before White River City would be promoted to the next rank and bring many benefits to the players inhabiting it. Naturally, he had to prioritize promoting the Residence there.
"Alright. Promoting a 2-star Guild Residence into a 3-star Guild Residence will require a 5,000-Gold reconstruction fee." The administrator said.
Black Flame took out another 5,000 Gold without hesitation.
After the handsome administrator confirmed that there were no problems, a series of system announcements rang out in Black Flame's ears.
–--
Star-Moon Kingdom System Announcement: Congratulations to Zero Wing for becoming the first Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom to own a 3-star Guild Residence! Guild Emblem upgraded to Bronze rank. Rewarding Guild with one set of Basic Defensive Magic Array, 1,500 Gold in Guild funds, and one Employment Center Building Order.
White River City System Announcement: Congratulations to Zero Wing for becoming the first Guild in White River City to own a 3-star Guild Residence! Rewarding Guild with one Training Room Promotion Order.
–--
The system announcement repeated three times, echoing loudly in everyone's ears.
"What?"
"A 3-star Residence?"
"That's impossible, right? Most Guilds haven't even begun to promote their Residences to 2-star. How does Zero Wing already have a 3-star Residence?"
"Zero Wing is too amazing! As expected of Star-Moon Kingdom's number one Guild! I must join Zero Wing, no matter what! The benefits of a 3-star Residence will definitely be spectacular!"
---
The players throughout the Star-Moon Kingdom were stunned by the rewards stated in the system announcement. This was especially true for the members of the various large Guilds. They were all greatly envious of Zero Wing.
Zero Wing's Guild Emblem was directly upgraded to Bronze rank!
A Guild Emblem wasn't just the symbol of a Guild. Similar to the insignia of Lifestyle classes, the Guild Emblem also possessed some functions. A Common Guild Emblem did not carry with it any functions at all. However, once a Guild Emblem reached Bronze rank, it came prepared with some functions.
A Bronze Guild Emblem had two functions:
The first function was a teleport ability. Even without a Guild Transfer Scroll, Guild members could directly teleport to any Guild Residence. There was no need to buy the Guild Transfer Scroll of a specific Guild Residence. Not to mention, players could only carry one Guild Transfer Scroll at a time, making it very inconvenient.
The second function increased the Attributes of Guild members. As long as there were over 20 Guild members within a 100-yard radius, the Guild Emblem would increase the wearer's maximum HP by 3% and Attack Power by 1%.
Although the increase seemed minor, once players reached higher levels, even 1% could make a huge difference. This was especially true when players were raiding Team Dungeons.
Less than a minute after the system announcement ended, news of Zero Wing obtaining a 3-star Guild Residence began spreading like wildfire. In just a short ten minutes, whether it were the Guilds in the Star-Moon Kingdom or the Guilds in the neighboring Kingdoms and Empires, they all held an emergency Guild meeting.
At the same time, the various large Guilds across God's Domain similarly obtained the news. They were temporarily shocked by the development, but didn't need to ponder for long to realize how this was possible despite the high requirements for promoting a Guild to 3-star status.
It should be known that a 1-star Guild only needed 30,000 Popularity to promote to a 2-star Guild, while a 2-star Guild needed 100,000 Popularity to promote to a 3-star Guild.
The further one progressed into the game, the more difficult it was to obtain Guild Popularity.
When a Guild was still at the 1-star standard, Guild members could earn quite a lot of Guild Popularity just by completing ordinary Guild Quests. With how many players there were in a large Guild, the number of Guild Quests completed each day was plenty. It would take no time for a Guild to accumulate 30,000 Popularity. The truly difficult aspect of promoting a Guild to 2-stars lay in obtaining the Guild Residence Promotion Order.
However, after a Guild reached 2-stars, Guild members would no longer obtain Guild Popularity through completing ordinary Guild Quests. They could only do so by completing advanced Guild Quests. However, advanced Guild Quests were very rare and limited in number. So, it would take a significantly longer time for a 2-star Guild to accumulate 100,000 Guild Popularity.
Even Super Guilds would need a long time to do so.
For Zero Wing, though, this much was trivially easy.
Over the last few days, Zero Wing's restored members had been going around and raiding dungeons all across God's Domain's Eastern Continent, system announcements of various Hard Mode and Hell Mode dungeons being cleared by Zero Wing sounding like an inextinguishable melody in the ears of all players during this time.
Anywhere between Level 20 and Level 50, whether it was 20-man, 50-man, 100-man, large-scale, or super-large-scale Team Dungeons, none were safe.
What was an unfeasible endeavor for the Super Guilds, like defeating a 50-man Team Dungeon's Hell Mode, seemed no different than a walk in the park for Zero Wing's members, and even the Hard and Hell Modes of dungeons whose Normal Modes the superpowers haven't begun challenging yet were being smashed through by the mysterious guild.
Thanks to the restored members decimating so many dungeons, causing a huge commotion and earning Zero Wing even more fame, along with even the regular members completing all sorts of high-ranking Guild Quests with relative ease due to their powerful equipment and the elite members learning techniques from the people whose memories have been restored, Zero Wing had accumulated an enormous amount of Guild Reputation Points and Guild Popularity.
In fact, their Guild Popularity had already reached 1,000,000 points, so promoting Zero Wing to a 3-star Guild wasn't anything special considering they currently had enough popularity to raise it to even a 7-star Guild.
Hence, although, caught off guard, the various powers weren't too surprised. Nonetheless, that didn't stop them from being envious.
Although there was only a single rank separating a 3-star Guild Residence and a 2-star Guild Residence, there was a qualitative difference between the two. It was similar to Shops that were promoted from 2-star to 3-star status.
For 3-star Shops, aside from having more Special Workshops, they also had Basic Meditation Rooms that were very beneficial towards the development of subclasses. In the case of a 3-star Guild Residence, the Guild would receive a qualitative improvement on all its existing benefits. A 3-star Guild Residence would also be capable of constructing buildings that were not available to 2-star Guild Residences.
Among them, there were two buildings of particularly significant importance.
One of them was the Employment Center.
Originally, the local NPCs would post quests in the quest area of the Guild Hall, and Guild players were free to pick up any of them.
Meanwhile, once a Guild established its own Employment Center, all quests commissioned to the Guild in the future would be placed in the Employment Center instead. In addition, the Guild Quests in the Employment Center weren't only limited to the local area. Certain quests would even involve other NPC cities, which would give rise to the number of advanced Guild Quests.
However, these were still not the most important matters.
Once a Guild possessed its own Employment Center, it would also unlock large-scale Guild Quests such as a crusade against Orcs, or assisting nearby kingdoms in battles against foreign races. The amount of EXP and Coins one could gain from these quests was extraordinary. In addition, one could also obtain plenty of rare tools, weapons, and equipment.
The other building was the Training Room.
Unlike the Divine Colosseum's Trial Tower, which required players to blindly discover and learn combat techniques, the Training Room allowed players to receive the system's basic combat training from NPCs. This allowed players that had just joined the Guild to grasp basic combat techniques, as well as Skill-utilization techniques, within a shorter period of time. Thus allowing them to quickly go from being a new member to an elite member more quickly.
It should be known that Zero Wing was a Guild that walked the path of the elite. Currently, the Guild only had around 100,000 elite members. Over half of its members had yet to reach the elite standard. However, once Zero Wing possessed the Training Room, the remaining members would be able to promptly become elites. It wouldn't be long before Zero Wing would have more than 200,000 elite members.
With so many elite players, even First-rate Guilds would barely be a match for Zero Wing. In terms of elite players, of course, since even some Super Guilds weren't a match for Zero Wing when it came to top combatants, not to mention First-rate Guilds.
Meanwhile, this was under the assumption that Zero Wing did not expand and recruit new members. If the Guild did a mass-recruitment, the various powers did not dare to imagine how frightening the Guild would become.
However, unlike the foreign powers, who were feeling envious of Zero Wing, the large Guilds in the Star-Moon Kingdom and the neighboring Kingdoms were currently dying from anxiety.
Previously, although Zero Wing was known as the number one Guild of Star-Moon Kingdom, that was only a title. Rather than Zero Wing, these large Guilds feared first-rate Guilds even more. This was because with the number of elite and ordinary members Zero Wing possessed the Guild would only be able to occupy a limited number of locations in the kingdom. Now, however, things were different. Now that the Guild had obtained a 3-star Guild Residence, whether it was the Guild's elite member count or total member count, both would see an explosive increase soon. By then, Zero Wing would have enough manpower to occupy other NPC cities and capture more towns. Eventually, it would become a first-rate Guild in the truest sense.
"Damn it! How did this happen?!"
"Why did Zero Wing suddenly obtain a 3-star Residence?!"
The various large Guilds in Star-Moon Kingdom were each suffering from a huge headache over this matter.
---
Inside Frosty Thread's Residence in Coldstar City...
Due to Zero Wing obtaining a 3-star Guild Residence, Frosty Thread was forced to hold an emergency meeting.
"Youlan, are you trying to betray Frosty Thread?" Feng Xuanyang screamed angrily as he smacked his desk.
Just now, Youlan had actually had his subordinates transfer from Gale City and Twin Lion City to a border city on Star-Moon Kingdom's western area. He had gone to great lengths in order to get Gale City and Twin Lion City up and running. Yet, shortly after he had built up some of his own foundations, without any warnings, Youlan had suddenly come and told him to go to a border city. Moreover, the city was a small one with a player population of around only 300,000. This was no different than stabbing a knife into his heart.
"This can't be helped. I believe you should have a greater understanding than I do on what kind of functions a 3-star Residence possesses. Gale City and Twin Lion City are simply too close to White River City. Rather than waste time fighting against Zero Wing, it will be much better for you to focus your strength in a place that you can take complete control over.
"Furthermore, it is simply impossible to stop Zero Wing's rise now. The higher-ups have already agreed on this point. Hence, they are having you go to a city on the western border. That place is very close to the Bloodhoof Empire. Currently, we have already taken control of over half of the empire. In the future, when players reach higher levels, we'll be able to open a trade route between the Bloodhoof Empire and Star-Moon Kingdom.
Youlan was not affected by Feng Xuanyang's angry bellows at all. In reality, she even secretly felt gratitude towards Zero Wing.
Due to Zero Wing's Residence getting promoted to 3-star status this time, Underworld had finally decided to give up on taking control of Star-Moon Kingdom and instead shifted to secretly developing its economy. Meanwhile, Youlan herself was transferred to Underworld's true headquarters, the Templar Empire, and was tasked with managing Underworld's trading firm. She could be considered to have truly set foot into Underworld's upper echelon now.
When Feng Xuanyang heard that this was an arrangement made by the higher-ups, his whole person seemed to age several years.
It was obvious that Underworld no longer wished to waste time attempting to take control of Star-Moon Kingdom.
Meanwhile, aside from Frosty Thread, the various large Guilds based in the eastern region of Star-Moon Kingdom had also made similar arrangements. They all planned on shifting their focus towards the western region of the kingdom. As for the eastern region, they were naturally going to let Zero Wing develop it.
---
"I wish to construct a Stable. Please compile the necessary quotes for me," After upgrading Zero Wing to 3-star status, Black Flame said as he handed over a Stable Design to the administrator.
Although they also possessed a 4-star Guild Residence Promotion Order, Feng had long since decided that he wouldn't be upgrading Zero Wing to 4-star status any time soon.
This was because the system governing the status of a Guild once it reaches 4-star status would change.
Once Guilds reached 4-star status, they'd open a 'path' in the Adventurer's Association, gaining a temporary residence in every Adventurer's Association across the continent of God's Domain. From then on, members of 4-star Guilds' base of operations wouldn't be limited to one or a few locations. They could expand their development across the entire continent and use the opportunity to increase the EXP and income they earned.
This so-called 'path' meant recognition from the Adventurer's Association as an official Guild. Official Guilds would then be able to engage in Adventurer Guild work. However, even after becoming an official Guild, Guilds would receive varying benefits from the Adventurer's Association.
When a Guild first became a 4-star Guild, it would be treated as an Ordinary-level Guild. If the Guild wished to receive more support from the Association, it would have to raise its status. The simplest method of doing so involved upgrading the Guild's status from Ordinary- to Town-level, City-state level, Kingdom-level, and finally, Empire-level.
Depending on the Guild's rank in the Adventurer's Association, the Guild would have access to different degrees of problems.
At the Ordinary-level, Guilds would be commissioned to solve civilian problems. Generally, these problems were similar to large-scale Guild Quests that required Guilds to wipe out some Demonic Beasts harassing the civilian population. Only, they might reward more EXP than ordinary large-scale Guild Quests.
After an Adventurer Guild reached the Town-level, the Adventurer's Association would acknowledge the Guild's ability to solve a town's problems. Normally, Town-level Guilds would receive commissions from town nobles, and the rewards would be much better than Ordinary-level commissions. Even when a Town-level Guild accepted a civilian commission, the quest would reward more than what an Ordinary-level Guild would receive. After all, a Town-level Guild was much stronger than an Ordinary-level Guild.
When a Guild reached City-state Level, it proved to the Adventurer's Association that it was strong enough to solve issues that plagued an entire region. Commissions City-state-level Guilds generally received involved crusades against the dark forces in a particular area.
Normally, to rise from Ordinary-level to City-state-level, a Guild had to complete a significant number of large-scale Guild Quests, slowly accumulating Prestige in the Adventurer's Association. Large-scale Guild Quests only awarded three to five Prestige points, but becoming a Town-level Guild required 700 to 1,000 Prestige, depending on where the Guild's main headquarters was located.
The number and quality of large-scale Guild Quests would differ depending on the size of its NPC city, so the more prosperous the city was, the more Prestige a Guild needed to increase its rank.
However, what few powers know is that there was a faster way to get promoted through the ranks.
And that is by obtaining Advanced 4-star Guild Promotion Orders.
Advanced 4-star Guild Promotion Orders were produced when the Adventurer's Association had first established. There are only 22 of these Advanced Promotion Orders in existence scattered across God's Domain's continent. They are considered a trial for Adventurer Guilds, and the more Advanced Promotion Orders an Adventurer Guild collects, the higher its status will be, enjoying greater treatment, in the Adventurer Association once it becomes a 4-star Guild.
If an Adventurer Guild obtains an Advanced 4-star Guild Promotion Order and is promoted to a 4-star Guild using it, it will be treated as a Town-level Guild.
If an Adventurer Guild collects three Advanced 4-star Guild Promotion Orders, it will be treated as a City-state-level Guild.
If an Adventurer Guild collects seven Advanced Promotion Orders, it'll be treated as a Kingdom-level Guild.
If an Adventurer Guild collects fifteen Advanced Promotion Orders, it'll be treated as an Empire-level Guild.
If an Adventurer Guild were to somehow manage to collect all twenty-two Advanced Promotion Orders, it'd be directly treated as a World-level Guild; the highest rank there is in the Adventurer's Association.
However, if Black Flame were to promote Zero Wing now with only a regular 4-star Guild Promotion Order, it would lose the opportunity and would have to climb the ranks slowly, starting as an Ordinary-level Guild.
Knowing there was the possibility of skipping the troublesome process of ranking up over time to a World-level Guild, Feng naturally wouldn't hastily upgrade Zero Wing to a 4-star Guild, especially since they currently had such an insurmountable advantage and headstart over the other powers, and would wait to obtain all of the Advanced Guild Promotion Orders before upgrading Zero Wing's rank.
Though, considering how rare and difficult-to-obtain Advanced Promotion Orders were, with some of them even being something players below Tier 6 had no chance at getting their hands on, it would probably take a considerable amount of time to acquire all 22 of them, and Feng would most likely promote Zero Wing to 4-star status much later than he did in the previous timeline.
After the administrator accepted the Stable Design, he tapped on the magic crystal ball before him.
Immediately, a miniature, half-transparent building appeared before Black Flame. This was the construction model for the Stable. It allowed players to select and modify the building.
Unlike other buildings, which were categorized by ranks such as Ordinary, and Luxury, Stables were only differentiated by size.
There were many Wild and Demonic Beasts in the world of God's Domain, and all of these monsters came in different sizes. The larger a monster was, the larger the Stable it required.
Obviously, the larger the Stable was, the more it would cost to construct it.
A small-sized Stable could cost anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 Gold.
A medium-sized Stable cost anywhere from 4,000 Gold to 5,000 Gold.
A large-sized Stable could cost anywhere from 8,000 Gold to 10,000 Gold.
A super-large-sized Stable could cost anywhere from 40,000 Gold to 50,000 Gold.
For a high-ranking rare Mount like the Thunder Wolf that Black Flame was planning on capturing to be Zero Wing's Guild Mount similarly to the previous timeline, he'd needed at least a medium-sized Stable.
Of course, the benefit of a larger-sized Stable wasn't limited to additional space. A Larger Stable would allow a Guild to tame Mounts faster. Guild players would also have an easier time growing their Mounts. Most importantly, one could invite a powerful tamer with a larger Stable.
In God's Domain, Mount taming was considered a field of knowledge. Tamers played an important role in harnessing the power of a Mount. Half of a Guild Mount's growth depended on the tamer. Hence, hiring a powerful tamer was essential to a Guild.
"I want this super-large-sized Stable." Black Flame chose a Stable with style and clicked "Confirm."
"Sir, you have chosen Stable Number 069. The total cost will be 48,000 Gold. In addition, you also have to provide the core materials required to construct the Stable." The senior administrator informed as he produced a bill of materials. The list stated all the necessary expenditures to construct the Stable.
"Here are the materials and money." Black Flame paid everything off without hesitation.
The materials necessary for constructing a Stable, although very rare and hard to get, especially the Primal Emerald Wood and Soul Cultivating Stones, were nothing to Zero Wing, and it had already gathered enough stuff to have it made several days ago.
They didn't immediately purchase the Adventurer Association's services in order to construct a Stable for various reasons, but Black Flame had decided it was the right time to put the motions in place and tame a Guild Mount.
After Black Flame finished paying the bill, the administrator passed him a Stable Certificate. In the future, if he wanted to modify the Stable, he could simply present this certificate to make the necessary modifications. He would not need to obtain another Stable Design.
---
After Black Flame confirmed the Stable's construction, a group of NPC Architects entered Zero Wing's Guild Residence in White River City and began building the Stable.
Suddenly, a large space within Zero Wing's Residence, which had been vacant, transformed into a construction site. Players were barred from the area.
"What's going on?"
"We're constructing a new building?"
"What is it going to be?"
---
Zero Wing's members grew curious upon seeing groups of NPC Architects enter the construction site.
They had been ecstatic when the Guild had constructed a Smithy. Not only could they save money on repair fees, but they could also maintain their weapons with the Weapon Maintenance function, extending the amount of time they could spend out in the fields. Players from other Guilds were particularly envious of this benefit.
Now that their Guild had begun constructing a new building, how could they contain their excitement?
---
When Black Flame, who hid under a Black Cloak, descended the stairs from the second floor, he was greeted by a sea of players crowding the first floors. The majority of these players shared one similarity; they were all Guild players. Moreover, these Guild players were all high-leveled with good equipment.
"What are these people trying to do?" a newcomer, who had just reached Level 10 and had come to report to the Adventurer's Association, asked.
"Is there even a need to ask? They're all here to withdraw from their Guilds," a Level 25-plus Guardian Knight explained from his seat near the entrance.
"Why?" The explanation only increased the new player's curiosity.
While it wasn't unusual to see players withdraw from their Guilds, this was the first time he had seen so many people from different Guilds at the same time.
"You're new, so it's expected that you don't know. They're leaving their original Guilds to join Zero Wing," the Guardian Knight said enviously as he watched the various Guild players. "Zero Wing is on a roll. Its Residence already has 3-star Private Rooms. If you rest in one of those rooms for 24 hours, you'll accumulate 30% of Double EXP buff. Moreover, it has the Employment Center now. I heard that Zero Wing went all out, making sure it'll be stylish. The building has two floors. On the first, players can pick up ordinary and advanced Guild Quests, and the second floor allows players to pick up large-scale Guild Quests. The large-scale Guild Quests award far more than the advanced Quests.
"Even elite members have a hard time picking up an Advanced Guild Quest in other Guilds. In Zero Wing, however, even ordinary members can pick one up. Once you become one of Zero Wing's elites, you can even pick up large-scale Guild Quests. As long as Guild members have sufficient Contribution Points, they can also upgrade their Guild Emblem to Bronze rank and get some bonus Attributes.
"You're a newcomer, right? Now is the best time for you to join Zero Wing. I heard that as long as Guild members are willing to spend some Contribution Points, they can receive guidance from NPCs in their new Training Room and learn basic combat techniques and Skill-utilization techniques. Those will help you become an expert quickly."
The Guardian Kinght's words immediately caught the attention of the various newcomers within the Adventurer's Association.
They were all new to God's Domain, and they were completely new to the game's combat styles. As a result, they had a lot of trouble against monsters. Moreover, they had to learn the combat techniques on their own. When they saw players easily solo two or three Common monsters simultaneously, they were jealous. Naturally, a location where they could improve their combat techniques would be tempting.
"May I know where I can apply to join Zero Wing?" A beautiful, charming Level 10 female Cleric excitedly asked the Guardian Knight.
In response, the Guardian Knight smiled as he pointed at a group of players that had just withdrawn from their old Guilds and said, "That's simple. Just follow the players that just left their old Guilds. They're all going to apply as well."
When the several newcomers heard this, they immediately followed after the players that had just withdraw from their Guilds and left the Adventurer's Association.
Black Flame observed everything with slight surprise.
Although he knew that a 3-star Guild Residence would be a very powerful influence, at this stage of the game, he didn't think it would bring about such a situation.
It had only been a short time since he had upgraded Zero Wing's Residence, yet so many elite players were leaving their old Guilds to join his.
What Black Flame didn't know was that a long line had already formed outside of Zero Wing's Residence. These players were all there to apply for the recruitment test. Quite a few were even Guild players from other cities.
The crowd made it difficult for Zero Wing's members to enter and leave the Residence.
"I suppose there's no reason to delay it any longer. It's about time Zero Wing starts expanding." Seeing the immense number of players trying to join Zero Wing, with a large number of them even coming from different Kingdoms and Empires, Black Flame knew that staying in just White River City and the Star-Moon Kingdom would no longer be sufficient for Zero Wing's development.
This fact wasn't particularly surprising, being something Zero Wing's upper echelons had been expecting to happen fairly soon at the rate the guild was developing and recruiting members, but the speed of its flourishing had still surpassed everyone's expectations.
Nevertheless, plans could never keep up with change, and it would seem like the strategy for Zero Wing's progression that Feng had planned to implement later on would have to be pushed forward.
Previously, after the Candlelight Trading Firm had started its wide-spread sales across the dozens of Empires and stabilized itself with the income, along with there being enough funds to support any of the urgent matters that required sums of money, Feng didn't let the money just sit in his pockets, instead choosing to immediately invest it.
With the around a million Gold Coins that he had possessed at the time, Feng went around the various Empires and Kingdoms, utilizing his status that was equivalent to a Marquise to purchase Land in them.
Although these plots of Land weren't as valuable as the ones he had set up Candlelight's Shops on due to the guilds stationed in those places having already snapped up the majority of the most important places, with some not even being Golden Lands, all of them were in the Cities' central areas and held a lot of value.
As long as Zero Wing set up Guild Residences on these plots of Land, they would instantly attract plenty of attention and have players joining, while the current members of Zero Wing would also have the opportunity to go elsewhere and develop.
Thinking of so and the current situation at Zero Wing, Black Flame contacted Aqua and had her begin preparing the expansion, before he started going around and setting up the Guild Residences on the previously purchased Land.
However, Black Flame didn't immediately station Zero Wing in all of the Kingdoms and Empires where he had purchased Land, instead choosing to set up Guild Residences in only some of the Kingdoms neighboring the Star-Moon Kingdom like the Twin Towers Kingdom and Purple Thorns Kingdom.
Even with its current strength, Zero Wing didn't have the manpower to properly establish itself in dozens of Kingdoms and Empires, especially if there were superpowers already vying for control there.
Regardless of how strong the restored members were, their numbers were still limited and they couldn't be in multiple places at once, not to mention everyone was currently focusing on growing stronger and didn't have the time for such pointless squabbles.
Meanwhile, although the unrestored members weren't weak, they still weren't strong enough to compete with superpowers or multiple First-rate Guilds, and they'd merely become walking treasure chests due to their high-ranking equipment.
Thus, in order to not hamper Zero Wing's progress but still keep it at a manageable level, Black Flame had decided to set up branches in merely a few Kingdoms near the Star-Moon Kingdom where Zero Wing's base of operations was.
Afterward, Black Flame headed towards the Commoner's District of White River City, going to recruit a Master Tamer for taming Zero Wing's future Guild Mount.
Based on Feng's knowledge, there were a total of three Master Tamers in White River City.
If he relied on a Basic Tamer or Advanced Tamer, it would take a very long time to finish taming a 5-star Mount like the one he was planning on capturing. As to how much time was needed, Black Flame had a general estimate, and only knew how long it would take to tame a 3-star Mount.
A Basic Tamer required a month to finish taming a 3-star Mount, while an Advanced Tamer needed 20 days. Master Tamers only needed ten days to complete the job.
A Master Tamer was three times as efficient as a Basic Tamer.
Moreover, Basic Tamers could not tame 5-star Mounts. Only Advanced Tamers and above could do so.
If even a Master Tamer needed ten days to tame a 3-star Mount, one could imagine how long it would take to tame a 5-star Mount. If he left the task to an Advanced Tamer, the required wait time would be even more frightening. Hence, he needed to hire a Master Tamer to tame the Thunder Wolf.
Within a minute, Black Flame had arrived before a large courtyard in the Commoner's District. Many beasts lounged on the courtyard's lawn. The lowest level beasts were at Level 100, with the more powerful ones being Level 150. Black Flame could also see a Level 150 High Lord. This beast was even stronger than an ordinary Level 150 Tier 2 class.
"This is the residence of Master Owen. Master Owen does not wish to meet with outsiders, so please leave."
As soon as Black Flame arrived before the courtyard's entrance, two Level 150 Tier 1 guards in silver heavy armor immediately blocked his path, barring him from the residence.
Although Tamers were not as reputable as Forgers and Alchemists, after becoming a Master, their statuses were slightly higher than ordinary nobles. Hence, although Owen was only a commoner, he still had two Level 150 Tier 1 guards protecting his home. Ordinary people did not qualify for his attention.
"Don't tell me that even I am refused entry?" Black Flame flashed his identity as someone with authority equivalent to that of a City's Count.
Immediately, the two Tier 1 guards fell to one knee, kneeling before Black Flame with respectful expressions. This scene dumbfounded passing players.
"Just who is that?"
"Amazing! He can actually force Tier 1 NPCs to kneel before him!"
Normally, these Tier 1 guards thought very little of players, yet now, they knelt before one. How could they not be shocked?
"Huh? Guild Leader? Why are you here?"
Immediately after Black Flame's actions and the guards' response, a crisp voice sounded from beside him.
Turning towards the voice, Black Flame noticed a beautiful girl in deep-purple mage robes approaching him. This girl was accompanied by a white-haired, old man.
Upon seeing the old man, one of the two Level 150 guards hurriedly stood to greet the old man, while the other quickly opened the large metal gates.
"Master Owen, welcome back!" the guard said respectfully.
The old man's identity was that of the Master Tamer Owen whom Black Flame was looking for, while the purple-robed beauty beside the old tamer was Ruoxi.
"I'm here to recruit Owen." Black Flame responded to Ruoxi's inquiry, before asking "Are you doing the Silver Legend quest in the Crystal Forest again?"
The Silver Legend quest was one of the few super-rare special quests in White River City. It was not easy to obtain. One needed to encounter a certain NPC to obtain this quest. However, this NPC appeared at random locations within White River City. Players needed luck to find this NPC.
This quest had caused quite a commotion in White River City in the past.
After this quest had been completed, players received a Mount as a reward. However, the quality of the Mount depended on the player's quest completion rate. The higher their completion rate was, the higher the Mount's quality would be.
To players, even obtaining a Common Mount was a massive expenditure, not to mention a high-quality Mount.
Back then, this Quest's discovery had led White River City's players to a frantic search for that NPC. Unfortunately, very few players had found that NPC, not to mention those who achieved a high Quest Completion Rate.
"Is it time to get the Guild Mount already?" Ruoxi immediately realized what Black Flame coming here to recruit Owen meant in spite of the timing being different than in the previous timeline.
Though, she didn't think much about it, since she herself was doing some things way ahead of schedule, like right now. Ruoxi then answered "Yep. I'm actually around the same stage as when Feng helped me to finish it in our previous lives."
"Do you need any help with the Quest?" Upon hearing her response, Black Flame thought for a moment and decided to offer Ruoxi some help in the Silver Legend Quest.
Depending on how high a player tries to get their completion rate, the Quest could be a bit difficult even for a Domain Realm expert.
In the previous timeline, Ruoxi, with his help, had managed to complete the Quest with a fairly decent completion rate and obtained a Secret-Silver Mount, but she would surely be going for a higher one this time around.
This would also give him an excuse to not have to go back to forging Intermediate Mana Armor Kits after he finishes with taming the Thunder Wolf, so Black Flame was perfectly happy with offering his assistance to Ruoxi.
"Thanks for the offer, Guild Leader, but I've already made plans with Feng to assist me in the Quest and some other things, so there's no need." With her having already asked Feng for help some time ago, Ruoxi naturally didn't need the clone's as well, so she politely rejected his offer.
This would also give her an opportunity to get some alone, adventuring time with Feng, and she couldn't have Black Flame take his spot or go along with them.
Hearing Ruoxi's response, even without her saying anything directly about the full reason, Black Flame instantly understood the underlying meaning behind her words. For a short, brief instant, a cold glint flashed in Black Flame's eyes without Ruoxi noticing anything out of the ordinary, but immediately disappeared.
Black Flame then closed one eye, while his other one lost focus, as if he were looking inside his very mind, before he went back to normal and said "The main body is still busy at the World Summit and would probably need another day or two to wrap things up and come back."
"Thanks for the info." Knowing that Black Flame and Feng shared a special connection, Ruoxi assumed Black Flame had just used it to look at what Feng was doing and informed her, so she thanked the clone and left, planning on what to do next while she waited for Feng to return.
Following which, Ruoxi departed from Owen's mansion, while Black Flame entered the courtyard alone.
Led by the Tier 1 guards, Black Flame reached the courtyard's central garden. Owen already sat comfortably inside a gazebo, waiting for him.
A Count ranked at the top of White River City's social pyramid.
Owen was merely a Master Tamer. His status was not as high as a Master Forger's. Hence, he still showed Black Flame some respect. If any other player stood before him, he'd only show them a cold shoulder.
Seeing Black Flame approach, Owen took the initiative to greet the Swordsman, bowing slightly as he said, "Lord Count, how may I be of service today?"
"Hello, Master Owen. I'm here to invite you to become Zero Wing's tamer consultant. I wonder if you can agree to this request?" Black Flame asked.
In God's Domain, Guilds with Stables generally sought to hire a tamer, having the tamer work in the Guild at all times. However, hiring a Master Tamer was very difficult. It was impossible to tie a Master Tamer to a single Guild. Hence, one could only hire a Master Tamer as a consultant. Moreover, there was still no guarantee that the Master Tamer would agree.
"This..." Owen hesitated for a long moment, unsure of how to respond.
"Take a look at this." Black Flame took out the Stable Certificate and handed it over to the old man.
To hire a Master Tamer, a Guild must first possess a large-sized Stable. Otherwise, the effort would be futile. Even with Black Flame's status, a Master Tamer would refuse. Naturally, a super-large-sized Stable was even better, and was the main reason why he had opted to construct one.
Only after Owen saw the Stable Certificate did he agree to Black Flame's request, saying, "It would be my honor to accept Lord Count's invitation. We can see to the formalities immediately."
Following which, Black Flame signed a contract with Owen. In return for Owen becoming Zero Wing's tamer consultant, Zero Wing would pay Owen a monthly retainer of 200 Gold.
After the contract was official, Black Flame told Owen that he'd contact him when the time comes, while he headed out.
With all the preparations finished, Black Flame contacted a few of Zero Wing's core members and had them meet up with him for the taming of the Thunder Wolf.
---
Meanwhile, a huge commotion tore through Zero Wing's Guild Residence.
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