Chapter 635 - Rainless Sword
Just as the female Ranger had said, the Red Rain Caravan’s strength could not be underestimated.
Although the Red Rain Caravan was slightly weaker than the other Caravans that consisted of over 30 horse carriages, their horse carriages were of higher quality. Two horses pulled the Red Rain Caravan’s carriages, unlike the normal horse carriages that other Caravans used, which were only pulled by one horse. Not only were the Red Rain Caravan’s carriages faster, but they could also hold considerably more cargo, with each carriage holding up to 24 times that of an ordinary player’s bag space. Moreover, due to the horse carriages being of a higher rank, they could hire two more guards than ordinary carriages.
Forming such a powerful Caravan at this stage of the game displayed the great capability of this player group.
“Guild Leader, although there are several other Caravans that are about to leave we’ll have to wait for another three to four hours for them to resupply before they set out. However, this Caravan doesn’t want guards that will quit halfway through the journey,” Aqua Rose reported.
Although there were many Caravans in Starfall City, that did not mean that a Caravan was available to set off at any time.
“It’s their loss for not picking powerful guards like us,” Cola snorted. He had just replaced his old shield with the Divine Bluefire Shield, his strength increasing significantly, so he felt somewhat irritated by the fact that the Red Rain Caravan had ignored him.
Shi Feng swept a glance over the Red Rain Caravan that was recruiting guards some distance away.
The Red Rain Caravan consisted of a total of 16 Bronze Carriages, each holding a maximum of five people. That was two more than Common Carriages; in other words, the Red Rain Caravan could carry a total of 80 people. After including the Caravan’s Merchants, they could recruit up to a maximum of 50 guards. If the Caravan allowed Shi Feng’s party of six to take up one-eighth of the remaining slots, it would greatly strengthen the Caravan.
Currently, Shi Feng’s group wore Black Cloaks to hide their identities. Outsiders could not discern their appearances at all, not to mention their Guild.
With Zero Wing’s influence in Star-Moon Kingdom, the Red Rain Caravan would definitely show some deference and allow their party to join.
However, Shi Feng did not wish to expose their tracks.
Every large Guild had their own investigation team that was responsible for collecting information on and tracking the important members of other large Guilds, taking the opportunity to investigate their movements or seek opportunities to assassinate these members.
Everyone in Star-Moon Kingdom knew of Zero Wing. Naturally, their actions would attract the attention of many parties. Not to mention, Zero Wing had plenty of enemies. If someone discovered their tracks, some of these enemies might go out of their way to deal with them.
Although Shi Feng was not afraid of his enemies, he did not wish to risk exposing the location of a rare Guild Mount and the method of capturing it; that would be a huge loss for him. Therefore, Shi Feng had everyone in his party hide their identities.
“I’ll negotiate with them.” Shi Feng shook his head and smiled. He then walked towards the lead female Ranger.
“Why are you here again? Haven’t I said that our guard slots are precious and that we can’t afford to hire people that will quit halfway through the trip?” the female Ranger named Red Rain said.
“We don’t want any remunerations. I’ll even give you 1 Gold as a traveling expense. How about it?” Shi Feng took out a shining Gold Coin from his bag.
Although the Red Rain Caravan transported a lot of goods, they could not earn much. To the Caravan, 1 Gold was a significant amount of money.
Hearing Shi Feng’s offer, Red Rain hesitated.
“Although the Great Forest of Soria is only halfway, most of the dangers on the way to the Empire come from the Great Forest itself. As long as you get through the Great Forest, you shouldn’t encounter any problems on the remaining journey. We’ll part ways only after we exit the Great Forest, how about that?” Shi Feng offered another suggestion.
“This…” Red Rain was clearly tempted.
Indeed, just as Shi Feng had stated, the truly dangerous area from Starfall City to the Black Dragon Empire was the Great Forest of Soria. The Great Forest was the best place for players to set up an ambush. At the same time, the Great Forest was also where Caravans would most likely encounter monster attacks. As long as they passed through the Great Forest, their trip to the Black Dragon Empire could basically be considered a success.
“Sis, just agree to their offer. Our Red Rain Caravan is famous in Starfall City. Those bandit players normally take the long way around to avoid us. What’s wrong with earning a little more money?” a Level 29 Swordsman youth asked. “Even if we encounter some trouble on the second half of the journey, doesn’t the Caravan still have me?”
While the Swordsman youth was speaking, Shi Feng activated Omniscient Eyes to size up the young man.
The Swordsman’s name was displayed as Rainless Path. The majority of his equipment was Level 25 Fine-Gold rank with a few pieces of Level 30 Secret-Silver Equipment. There was even a piece of Level 25 Dark-Gold Equipment.
Rainless Path? When Shi Feng saw this name, he suddenly recalled something about this Swordsman.
In the past, Rainless Path had been a famous Swordsman in Star-Moon Kingdom. At his peak, he had ranked within the top 30 Swordsmen in Star-Moon Kingdom. Back then, he had also been known as Rainless Sword. His name had shaken the entire Star-Moon Kingdom. Unfortunately, his growth had been limited by the fact that he was an independent player. For an independent player like Rainless Path to place within the top 30 of the kingdom’s Swordsmen was an amazing feat.
“Alright, then. I accept your offer. However, we have to make a contract first,” Red Rain sighed as she conceded. She thought that she was behaving too conservatively. After all, the Red Rain Caravan was a well-known Caravan in Starfall City. Bandit players normally would not try to make an enemy of their Caravan. Even in the off chance that someone did try to rob them, they still had an expert like Rainless Path.
“Okay.” Shi Feng did not object to signing a contract. With a contract, both sides could feel at ease.
Afterward, Shi Feng and his party entered into a contract with the Red Rain Caravan. The contract required Shi Feng’s party to pay a remuneration of 1 Gold to the Red Rain Caravan. In return, the Red Rain Caravan would transport his party to the Great Forest of Soria. The two groups would part ways once they exited the Great Forest.
After another dozen or so minutes, the Red Rain Caravan recruited enough players to fill the remaining guard spots. Shortly after, the Caravan departed from Starfall City.
The Bronze Carriages were very fast. Moving along the highway, it took only two hours for the Red Rain Caravan to reach the Great Forest of Soria.
Level 50 monsters roamed the Great Forest’s outermost region. However, due to the Star-Moon Kingdom and the Black Dragon Empire armies often clearing the monsters around the highway, the Great Forest’s monsters did not dare approach the highway casually. This allowed players to organize their own Caravans to travel between these two countries.
Moreover, with the current level of players, as long as they possessed some equipment that had the Ignore Levels Attribute and the Protection Skills unique to Caravans, even a player Caravan could pose a certain degree of threat to Level 50 monsters. As long as there were not too many monsters, a player Caravan could even kill off the Level 50 monsters.
Only, during transport, the players in a Caravan would not get any loot or EXP from the monsters they killed. Hence, players were unable to take advantage of the Caravan’s strength to grind for EXP and items. Moreover, the Carriages could only travel on commercial roads; they could not travel to other locations. Otherwise, players would not need to purchase Mounts.
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Shortly after the Red Rain Caravan entered the Great Forest of Soria, a thinly-built Ranger hiding in a towering tree noticed the Caravan. This Ranger then activated Eagle Eyes and carefully observed his target.
“Boss, another Caravan has arrived,” the Ranger said through the team chat.
“Which Caravan is it?” a rough and barbaric voice came from the other side.
“Looking at the symbol, it seems to be the Red Rain Caravan,” the thinly-built Ranger said, licking his lips.
“Red Rain Caravan. Excellent. I’ll show that slut, Red Rain, that struggling is useless, even if she has Rainless Path. Send me their coordinates. Today, the Thousand Mile killers will take this opportunity to lay our hands on the Red Rain Caravan for never paying tolls!”
The thinly-built Ranger immediately sent the Red Rain Caravan’s coordinates to his boss.
“Hahaha! We’re going to make a fortune! I heard that the Red Rain Caravan is as rich as an oil baron! The Caravan has even given Rainless Path a Dark-Gold Weapon. Their riches will be ours, the Thousand Mile Killers!” The thinly-built Ranger drooled as he watched the Bronze Carriages of the Red Rain Caravan.