As soon as s.h.i.+ Feng came online, he noticed that he had more than a dozen unread messages, all from Melancholic Smile, Youlan, and Blackie. Among the three, Melancholic Smile had sent him six messages. Something urgent must have happened in the Guild, and s.h.i.+ Feng immediately sent the woman a call request.
"What's happened?" s.h.i.+ Feng asked as Melancholic Smile's face appeared on the screen.
Zero Wing had considerable savings set aside now and could afford to recruit new members en ma.s.se with plenty of funding to spare.
The bounty Starlink had placed on Zero Wing's members was of little concern at this point, as well. Practically all of the Guild's core members grinded in the Bottomless Abyss thanks to Stone Forest City's relocation, and as a result, the burden on Zero Wing's leveling resources had lightened. Now, even the Guild's normal and elite members could safely develop within its territories since other players rarely dared to provoke the Guild in these locations. Although Starlink secretly dispatched experts to ambush Zero Wing's members, they weren't able to cause much damage.
On the contrary, Starlink had suffered significantly due to the counter-bounty Zero Wing had issued. Every day, a large number of players visited Zero Wing to claim their bounties.
Although the situation wouldn't shake Starlink's foundation if it persisted, it would continue to drain the enemy Guild's liquid a.s.sets, slowing Starlink's development.
Starlink expended a lot of high-ranked Consumables each day to wrestle control over neutral maps' resources, but even as a superpower, it couldn't produce enough Consumables to satisfy its needs. As a result, the Guild continued to spend its Coins on additional Consumables. If Starlink did not have enough funding saved, its neutral map exploration would begin to stagnate.
"Guild Leader, Starlink has recently allied with a few other superpowers and three Chambers of Commerce to monopolize the materials for brewing Advanced Darkness Potions and Advanced Forest Potions. Whenever these materials show up on the market, someone from the Guild s.n.a.t.c.hes them up at a high price. The prices for these materials have climbed to three times the normal rates. Although we have tried to contest for the materials, we've only managed to acquire a small stock. I'm afraid we don't even have enough to brew potions for our own uses," Melancholic Smile reported anxiously.
"They've monopolized the materials for two Advanced Potions? It seems Starlink is starting to get nervous." The situation actually surprised s.h.i.+ Feng.
Advanced Darkness Potions were one of the rarer Advanced Potions in the game. Not only did they increase players' Darkness Resistance, but they also enhanced players' night vision. It was the perfect potion when exploring areas with dense dark energy.
The Advanced Forest Potion was also quite rare. It would increase player's resistance to corrosive effects and slightly improve their perception range.
These two potions worked wonders within the Ancient Undead Country and Bottomless Abyss. By consuming both, players could increase their leveling efficiency by at least 30%.
Meanwhile, producing these potions required quite a few types of materials. Monopolizing all of them should be impossible for one superpower. These materials originated from different locations, and trying to control all of them would cost an astronomical sum of money.
However, if one could monopolize these potions, they'd hamper their opponent's exploration in the Ancient Undead Country and its Regional Dungeon.
"Unfortunately, that isn't what's making me anxious. Starlink has begun to offer insane salaries to poach Candlelight's Lifestyle players. Not only is it offering huge monthly salaries, but it's also offering to provide a wealth of developmental resources. I've heard that the Guild is offering 20,000 Credits per month for Advanced Lifestyle players, and 100,000 per month to Master Lifestyle players. We've already lost more than 50 Advanced players and two Master Lifestyle players. Everyone in Candlelight is talking about it," Melancholic Smile said. "We've just established the Candlelight Chamber of Commerce, and we still need a lot of merchandise to benefit from it. If we continue to lose so many Advanced Lifestyle players, we'll be left crippled."
The Candlelight Trading Firm's Lifestyle players relied on their shares of the revenue to earn a living, exchanging Coins for Credits. Starlink's offer of a stable salary was sorely tempting.
As players continued to level up, Coins would become more attainable, and as a result, their value would depreciate. However, if one were paid in Credits, they wouldn't have to worry about losing income as Coins became less valuable. It was only natural that Starlink's offer would attract Lifestyle players.
"Starlink is using its capital now?" s.h.i.+ Feng could not help but chuckle.
The concept of paying Lifestyle players with Credits wasn't foreign to s.h.i.+ Feng. On the contrary, he was very familiar with the idea. When players had reached Level 80 during his previous life, the various superpowers had gradually realized how important Lifestyle players truly were. As a result, they had begun to use this method to poach capable Lifestyle players, and in the end, even the various major powers had to resort to such a tactic.
Many of the poorer powers had been thrown back to the stone age, with some crumbling as a result.
"Guild Leader, if we don't take any countermeasures, I'm afraid that we'll lose even more people," Melancholic Smile said worriedly. "However, if we use the same tactic, will we have enough Credits to support the Candlelight Trading Firm with how much our Guild is earning right now? If we sell our Coins, we'll play right into Starlink's hands."
It was at this moment that Melancholic Smile realized how truly terrifying a superpower could be. It was actually possible to kill someone with money alone.
"I'm not sure who gave Starlink this idea, but it should prepare to lose a few teeth if it thinks it can use capital to compete with Zero Wing!" s.h.i.+ Feng declared with a smile.
If this had happened before s.h.i.+ Feng had upgraded Stone Forest Town into Stone Forest City, Zero Wing would've likely suffered, but it was no longer the Guild it had been.
The various superpowers simply did not realize what Stone Forest City represented.
"How are the private houses around the Battle Arena coming along?" s.h.i.+ Feng asked.
"We finished 70% of them. The remaining 30% will require another two or three days," Melancholic Smile replied. Although she didn't know why s.h.i.+ Feng asked, she quickly sent him a report on the construction process.
Zero Wing had spent over 160,000 Gold over the past few days to build these private houses, and it was, undoubtedly, the largest investment the Guild had made thus far.
"We have 70% complete?" s.h.i.+ Feng nodded in satisfaction as he inspected the report. "Over 7,000 houses should be enough. Publish an announcement that Stone Forest City is renting its private houses to the public. We'll hold an auction for them throughout the Candlelight Trading Firm's branches simultaneously. We'll only accept Credits as payment, and we'll start the bid at 30,000 Credits per month."
"Thirty thousand Credits for one month? Isn't that a little too expensive?" s.h.i.+ Feng's price shocked Melancholic Smile.
Private houses weren't like Shops, which could generate profit for players. Renting a private house was akin to buying a Consumable item. They'd be fortunate enough to find players that were willing to rent a private house for a few thousand Credits. Thirty thousand Credits per month was just absurd.
"Relax. Just have someone spread the news. The sooner we get this done, the better," s.h.i.+ Feng said, chuckling. He did not offer any further explanation.
Cities within the Bottomless Abyss had been holy sites for players in the past. Countless expert players had dreamed of owning private houses in these cities. Unfortunately, the ruling powers had only leased these private houses, but even so, experts had fought desperately to acquire one for themselves.
At one time, renting these holy cities' private houses had cost more than 50,000 Credits per month. That situation had enlightened G.o.d's Domain's players hof just how much money one could make in the game. Compared to the past, 30,000 Credits was quite cheap.
Melancholic Smile followed her orders and posted the announcement on the official forums in G.o.d's Domain's various kingdoms and empires.
