After Zero Wing won White River City's Auction House, the various superpowers received the surprising news in less than ten minutes.
Although White River City was not an important NPC city, it was one of the first cities to have an active Auction Arena System. Naturally, the various superpowers wouldn't let it slip through their grasp.
Yet, despite four superpowers fighting to secure the Auction House, a non-superpower, Zero Wing, had won the compet.i.tion. No matter how the various superpowers considered the news, it was unbelievable.
The unexpected development made the superpowers suspicious. They all suspected that Zero Wing had support from a Super Guild or a major corporation.
However, regardless of their a.s.sumptions, Zero Wing's name had made it onto their lists, becoming a target to pay close attention to. After all, now that Zero Wing had secured an NPC city's Auction House, it had gained a tremendous amount of financial strength. Moreover, this new income source was stable and beyond other powers' influence. With this, Zero Wing was one step closer to becoming a true superpower.
"Zero Wing succeeded?" Phoenix Rain could not help but be surprised when she read the report from her subordinate.
Before the Auction Arena compet.i.tion, she had expressed her willingness to dispatch a portion of her strength to a.s.sist Zero Wing with s.h.i.+ Feng, but he had rejected her offer. She had later learned that four superpowers had intended to fight for White River City. Even she would struggle to win White River City's Auction House with so many powerful opponents, yet the latest report stated that Zero Wing had emerged victorious. Moreover, its victory had been overwhelming.
No matter how she looked at it, the situation didn't seem realistic.
She had watched Zero Wing rise from the ground up personally, but she didn't understand how Zero Wing had become so powerful. For a moment, she even wondered if her subordinate had mistyped the victor's name to Zero Wing.
"Big Sis Rain, we've just received a message from the Great Pavilion Master. He wants to hold an Elder Meeting and requests your attendance. He says that it's related to Zero Wing," Blue Phoenix excitedly announced as she rushed into the room.
"I got it." Phoenix Rain could not help her bitter smile when she heard the message.
She had wanted to help Zero Wing. She hadn't thought that it would help her instead.
...
Ore Empire, Crimson Flame Fortress:
After a long period of development, the Crimson Flame Fortress's operations could rival that of a small NPC city. Including the NPC soldiers that guarded the fortress, it had become one of the safest rest areas in the Ore Empire, and it was very close to the Ore Capital City. By using the fortress's teleportation function, players could reach the Regional Dungeon very quickly. As a result, the fortress had become exceptionally popular among players.
However, tension dominated Blackwater's Residence in the Crimson Flame Fortress. Jing Yang, who stood in the Vice Guild Leader's office, was drenched in sweat.
"Zero Wing sure has a lot of experts." Xuanwu Chisa wore a faint smile as she finished reading Jing Yang's report.
Neither joy nor sadness filled Xuanwu Chisa's voice, yet those who heard it would feel an extraordinarily frightening pressure. Even South Time, who stood behind Jing Yang, felt his legs wobble for a moment.
"Vice Guild Leader, Zero Wing's strength has truly exceeded our expectations. Do we still intend to put pressure on the Guild after this?" a blue-clad, elderly man, who radiated a much stronger aura than South Time's, asked.
Zero Wing had enough apex experts to rival an ordinary superpower. Superpowers would have a very difficult time hara.s.sing the Guild with their own apex experts.
Zero Wing now had the strength to surround and defeat apex experts. On the off chance that its experts killed Blackwater's, the consequences would be severe. Apex experts were incredibly important a.s.sets to a superpower, and a single death could be dire for a superpower's development.
Moreover, with the strength s.h.i.+ Feng had displayed thus far, Zero Wing wouldn't likely need to launch a large-scale offensive to deal with hostile apex experts. s.h.i.+ Feng alone would be more than enough to get the job done.
The only option Blackwater had left involved mobilizing all of its apex combatants to wage a war of attrition against Zero Wing. However, doing so would not benefit either side. Blackwater's development would stagnate, and it would fall behind other superpowers. They had to avoid that method unless absolutely necessary.
This was why the various superpowers rarely mobilized their apex experts to resolve conflicts with other superpowers, dispatching peak exerts, at most, to fight. Apex experts played a crucial role in acquiring powerful items, and superpowers couldn't afford any hindrances to their development.
Normally, superpowers also had the option of an economic war, but now that Zero Wing had White River City's Auction House, it's financial prowess was likely unshakable.
"Of course, we are continuing," Xuanwu Chisa said as she eyed the blue-clad elder beside her. "This is merely the start of Zero Wing's tragedy. Starlink has won Auction Houses in three NPC cities, including Dark Night City's. This has substantially increased the Guild's overall strength. With the Starline Corporation's support, Starlink will only grow stronger. Although it failed to take White River City from Zero Wing, it won't let the smaller Guild off the hook so easily."
"Understood. I'll make the necessary arrangements." The blue-clad elder bowed and left the room.
After the blue-clad elder, Jing Yang, and the others left, Xuanwu Chisa restarted the battle video of the compet.i.tion for White River City's Auction Arena. At one point, she began to smile.
"Black Flame, huh?" Xuanwu Chisa's eyes narrowed as she focused on the moment s.h.i.+ Feng had killed Sword Demon. Laughing, she said, "How interesting. The fact that you have grown your Guild from nothing is truly amazing. It seems you have quite a few secrets, but turning a Guild into a t.i.tan in G.o.d's Domain isn't such an easy task. Show me how much you can grow."
Meanwhile, joy dominated White River City's streets. Zero Wing's members celebrated throughout the city like it was New Year's Eve.
Now that Zero Wing had control of the city's Auction House, it's position as Star-Moon Kingdom's overlord was stable. Any power that picked a fight with the Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom would simply be asking for an early death.
Although Zero Wing had only secured the management rights to White River City's Auction House, White River City had the highest player population of any city in the kingdom. Merchant and Lifestyle players frequently gathered here, and various products flowed through the city every day. Any power that wanted to develop in Star-Moon Kingdom couldn't avoid visiting White River City's Auction House.
It was easy to imagine the consequences if a power were barred from the city's Auction House.
Because of this, Star-Moon Kingdom's various powers forbade their members from provoking Zero Wing under any circ.u.mstances once Zero Wing had secured White River City's Auction House. Any player that ignored the order would be instantly banished from the organization, and no power in Star-Moon Kingdom would accept the banished player.
Even the kingdom's Dark Players were a little intimidated by Zero Wing.
Before this turn of events, they had been able to move about the kingdom without fear, but as time pa.s.sed, the merchandise in White River City began to have greater influence on their daily lives in G.o.d's Domain. Furthermore, if they wanted to fetch a good price for the items they sold, White River City's Auction House was the best place to go. If they made it onto Zero Wing's blacklist, their relations.h.i.+p with the Auction House would be severed.
At the same time, Zero Wing's new position and influence in the kingdom attracted an unprecedented number of players who wanted to join the Guild.
In the past, Zero Wing's position as Star-Moon Kingdom's overlord hadn't been infallible, but now, it was truly unshakable. Taking into account the Guild's incredible performance in the Auction Arena, players who wanted to leech off of others' success and those who wanted to improve their own strength swarmed to join Zero Wing. ^
In less than an hour after the Auction Arena's conclusion, Zero Wing had received more than 200,000 applications. Many among them were experts that could reach the Trial Tower's fifth floor, and some were even Half-step Refinement Realm experts. It astonished Gentle Snow and Aqua Rose.
First-rate Guilds offered high prices and instant promotions to core member to recruit Half-step Refinement Realm experts, yet many of these experts approached Zero Wing, wanting to join even if they had to start out as normal members.
However, the situation didn't surprise s.h.i.+ Feng. Zero Wing was only a step away from becoming a superpower now, and it was normal to receive members.h.i.+p applications from Half-step Refinement Realm experts. Moreover, the threshold Zero Wing needed to cross to become a superpower wasn't like what other first-rate Guilds faced.
Other Guilds typically lacked sufficient peak and apex experts when trying to become a superpower, but Zero Wing only lacked certain developmental aspects.
Growing the Guild was much easier to accomplish than nurturing peak and apex experts.
Of course, Zero Wing didn't actually have any real peak or apex experts. The players the Guild had shown off in the Auction Arena had been forcibly created through powerful weapons, equipment, and Skills. However, with the Lost Town and Zero Wing's many combat techniques, the Guild wasn't far behind the various superpowers in its ability to nurture experts. Moreover, as the Workshop perfected the facilities in Zero Wing's main headquarters, it would only be a matter of time before Zero Wing's methods were even more effective than the various superpowers'.
While Gentle Snow and Aqua Rose organized the Guild's new members, s.h.i.+ Feng made his way to White River City's City Hall.
Even after securing the management rights to NPC cities' Auction Houses in the past, the various powers had only treated these Auction Houses as important income sources. They had failed to recognize the management rights' true value.
Someone had only discovered the true value of NPC Auction Houses after more than a year had pa.s.sed since the Auction Arena System had been introduced. When this discovery had gone public, many powers had hated themselves for not investigating NPC Auction Houses thoroughly. If they had paid more attention, they would've been able to elevate their development to a whole new level.
What the various powers had failed to discover was the fact that NPC Auction Houses could be linked with player- constructed Auction Houses. The process of doing so was troublesome, but compared to the potential harvest, it wasn't worth mentioning.
After waiting in the City Hall for some time, a Level 150, Tier 3 senior administrator approached s.h.i.+ Feng.
"Lord Count, I apologize for the long wait. The Magistrate is in his study. Please follow me," the senior administrator respectfully addressed s.h.i.+ Feng.
"Alright." s.h.i.+ Feng nodded. He then followed the senior administrator to the staircase that led to the top floor.
