Chapter 562 - Divine Colosseum
After the upper managers of the various large Guilds left the reception hall in high spirits, Melancholic Smile could no longer hold back as she asked, "Guild Leader, will it really be alright to sell so many Intermediate Mana Armor Kits to these Guilds?”
It would have been fine if it were the Basic Strengthened Armor Kits. After all, the forging design for this item could be obtained through various means, so other forgers could produce them as well. However, the Intermediate Mana Armor Kit was different. Shi Feng was the only person who could forge them, so the item’s production was extremely limited.
Moreover, they had only initially sold the Intermediate Mana Armor Kits with the intention of attracting business to the Candlelight Trading Firm.
Now that the Candlelight Trading Firm’s business has begun to take shape, there was no need to use the Intermediate Mana Armor Kits to attract more customers.
By selling so many Intermediate Mana Armor Kits to other Guilds, it would only serve to strengthen these Guilds. This would just cause Zero Wing more trouble!
“Since we are a trading firm, why shouldn’t we do business when the opportunity presents itself?” Shi Feng laughed. “Not to mention, I’ve already made a huge profit. I should at least allow others to pick up some scraps, right?”
“Huge profit?” Melancholic Smile was confused.
“If we sell the same amount of kits through the black market secretly, we will make more than what we just did. However, my goal isn’t just to earn Coins, but also Magic Crystals.” Shi Feng explained, “Currently, there are few uses for Magic Crystals. Moreover, they can only be obtained from Dungeons. However, the various large Guilds normally keep the Magic Crystals they obtained for themselves. So, if we had to point out who possesses the most Magic Crystals, it would have to be these large Guilds.”
“But the Candlelight Trading Firm also has plenty of Magic Crystals. We even have an entire warehouse full of them right now. We have more than what we can use.” Melancholic Smile grew even more confused.
“Have you forgotten the Simulation Device in the Special Forging Rooms?” Shi Feng laughed.
Immediately, Melancholic Smile’s eyes glowed as she came to a realization.
If one wished to use the Simulation Device, they needed to expend Magic Crystals.
Meanwhile, the amount of Magic Crystals required varied depending on the materials simulated. The more precious a material was, the more Mana Crystals were required.
A Simulation Device could allow a Lifestyle player to familiarize themselves with the production flow of an item swiftly, significantly increasing their success rate and production speed when it came to the real deal. Compared to experimenting and wasting actual materials, it was much cheaper to spend Magic Crystals.
Currently, the Candlelight Trading Firm was developing in multiple cities. However, it severely lacked manpower, particularly Advanced Forging Apprentices and Basic Forgers who were capable of producing advanced products. Despite the Firm’s efforts in recruiting Lifestyle players from cities outside its sphere of influence, the number of players they had recruited was utterly insufficient.
Currently, player demand for advanced products was growing exponentially.
However, only Basic Forgers had a slightly higher success rate of producing items such as Level 20 Bronze and Mysterious-Iron Equipment. Advanced Forging Apprentices could not produce such items at all. As a result, the other trading firms throughout the entire God’s Domain were also desperately recruiting and poaching Basic Forgers.
Unfortunately, becoming a true Forger was easier said than done.
If one wanted to nurture a group of Basic Forgers, the money required to do so could bankrupt an ordinary small Guild.
If the Candlelight Trading Firm wished to quickly nurture a batch of Advanced Forging Apprentices and Basic Forgers, utilizing the Simulation Device in the Special Forging Rooms would be the cheapest way to do so. Only, the amount of Magic Crystals required to sustain the Simulation Device for so many people would be astounding. Considering the situation again, Melancholic Smile found that the amount of Magic Crystals the Firm had stored away was indeed insufficient.
“Alright, in a moment, go and receive the Magic Crystals that those Guilds have sent. I’ve also removed the restriction on the previously reserved Special Forging Room. You can allow players with strong potential to train there.” Saying so, Shi Feng removed the restriction on the Special Forging Room. “Right, you should also purchase some Magic Crystals from time to time. However, make sure not to attract too much attention when doing so lest people start hiking up the prices.”
“Guild Leader, rest assured, I will send people to purchase them from other cities discreetly. I won’t let others find out about this!” Melancholic Smile nodded, smiling brightly. This was not the first time she had to do such a thing.
Melancholic Smile then departed from the reception hall.
“I can only lie to her like this for now.”
Shi Feng released a sigh of relief as he watched Melancholic Smile’s departing figure. In reality, he had an even greater purpose for collecting Magic Crystals in bulk.
The Divine Colosseum!
That was where Magic Crystals were truly valuable.
In the past, everyone had treated Magic Crystals as garbage as, at the time, only certain items required Magic Crystals to produce. Moreover, these items required very few to produce. Hence, players would normally celebrate if they managed to sell the Magic Crystals they had obtained.
However, nobody could have imagined that, the moment the Divine Colosseum opened, the prices of Magic Crystals would instantly soar by over six times.
The Divine Colosseum allowed players to examine their strength, and it allowed players to undergo training provided by the system to improve their weaknesses. Moreover, one could also obtain rewards from battles in the Divine Colosseum. The Divine Colosseum also had many other functions.
Due to the emergence of the Divine Colosseum, the players of God’s Domain had obtained a systematic promotion ladder that allowed them to become experts quickly. Hence, the Divine Colosseum had been very popular among players.
Players were required to pay a fee in order to use the Divine Colosseum. However, one could not use Coins to make payments at the Colosseum, but Magic Crystals instead. Hence, prices of Magic Crystals skyrocketed upon the emergence of the Divine Colosseum. Even after a decade, Magic Crystals were still a powerful currency. They were worth as much as gold in reality.
Otherwise, Shi Feng would not have foolishly use Intermediate Mana Armor Kits to trade for Magic Crystals.
If possible, Shi Feng wished to turn all the Coins in his possession into Magic Crystals. By the time the Divine Colosseum activated, the 30,000 Gold in his hands would immediately become more than 100,000, or even 200,000, Gold.
However, in order to avoid attracting suspicion, he could only purchase them slowly and secretly.
Over the following two days, Shi Feng did not rest or log out of the game at all as he ceaselessly forged the Intermediate Mana Armor Kits. By the time he had cleared his debt, he had risen from Level 30 to Level 32. He had actually managed to level up twice in two days. Moreover, this was after he had reached Level 30. If it were anyone else, they would not be able to rise by two Levels even after grinding for a whole week.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng’s Forging Proficiency had also risen to Intermediate Forger.
During this period, both Zero Wing and the Candlelight Trading Firm developed rapidly. It was especially true for Zero Wing. The Guild’s member count had finally broken past the 100,000 threshold, and it could finally be considered a large Guild in the truest sense.
On the Candlelight Trading Firm’s side, thanks to the Simulation Device, the Firm had successfully nurtured several additional Basic Forgers during these past two days.
As for the other Guilds, they had also begun their competition over 50-man Team Dungeons.
However, the thing that surprised everyone was that Overwhelming Smile had taken the lead, becoming the first Guild to defeat the First Boss in a 50-man Hard Mode Team Dungeon.
As for Zero Wing, Aqua Rose’s team had only been the second to defeat the First Boss after relying on their superior equipment. The perceived failure had disheartened Aqua Rose.
Shi Feng was not surprised at all.
Overwhelming Smile had the aid of War Wolf, as well as several other true experts. In terms of the number of top-tier experts, Overwhelming Smile was far above Zero Wing. Moreover, 50-man Team Dungeons relied more on a player’s combat techniques than equipment. It was only natural for Aqua Rose’s team to lose.
“It should be about time to turn in the quest.” Shi Feng looked at the Coins that filled his pockets. He could not help but look forward to the quest reward given by the Starstreak Trading Firm.
As one part of an Epic Quest, it had been extremely difficult.
If he had not possessed the Advanced Book of Magic, it would have been impossible for him to complete this phase of the quest.