Chapter 1572: Blackwater Visits

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Chapter 1572 – Blackwater Visits

Sure enough, the Divine Shrines’ tests are also opportunities. Shi Feng smiled as he collected the Mana Barrier Crystal Fragment.

…

[Mana Barrier Crystal Fragment] (Consumable) Can be used to increase Mana. A support tool for crafting items.

…

Obtaining Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments wasn’t easy, and although the item had a high drop-rate, it didn’t drop from every Realm Lord.

Meanwhile, Realm Lords were even rarer than Field Bosses. High-resource leveling maps only had two or three Realm Lords. In addition, these Realm Lords’ respawn time was much longer than ordinary Field Bosses.

When the various large Guilds had discovered the benefits of killing Realm Lords in the past, many Guild wars had broken out over these monsters.

Obtaining one Mana Barrier Crystal Fragment after killing a single Special Elite ranked Realm Lord was a huge boon from the system.

Each Mana Barrier Crystal Fragment had sold for around 30 Gold in the past. Of course, most Guilds that had obtained these crystal shards had refused to sell them.

When players collected ten crystal fragments, they could seek out an NPC Master Alchemist to synthesize the Mana Barrier Crystal with a 40% success rate. If the synthesis were successful, one would have an everlasting Magic Crystal. The Mana Barrier Crystal was a priceless treasure, useful in multiple aspects, such as powering teleportation arrays, Magic Towers, and other such constructions.

There had even been a few Workshops that had specialized in hunting Realm Lords in distant maps, making a living from selling Mana Barrier Crystals.

After obtaining the crystal fragment, Shi Feng moved towards the teleportation array and left the forest.

When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived at the first Divine Shrine’s exit, and the staircase leading to the second shrine stretched before him. Many players were already running towards the second Divine Shrine.

So many people are already out? Shi Feng was surprised. Over a hundred players were already approaching the second Divine Shrine.

However, after giving the matter some thought, he realized that he had spent quite some time fighting the Specter Werewolf. Most, if not all, of the players before him had likely avoided fighting the Realm Lord. They had simply slipped past the Specter Werewolf to enter the teleportation array.

As Shi Feng left the first Divine Shrine, the sound of system notifications reached his ears.

…

System: Congratulations! You have passed the Divine Shrine. Rewarding 10 Shrine Points.

System: Congratulations! You have passed the Divine Shrine within the time limit. Rewarding 10 Shrine Points.

System: Congratulations! You have killed the Guardian Boss within the time limit. Rewarding 50 Shrine Points.

…

So many points! Shi Feng was somewhat taken aback when he saw how many points the system had awarded for killing the Specter Werewolf.

Passing the Divine Shrine had only earned him 10 SPs, yet killing the Special Elite ranked Specter Werewolf had awarded 50…

If these other players realized that killing the Guardian Boss would award even more points, they’d likely regret their earlier actions.

Even the cheapest item available for purchase in the Divine Shrine cost 500 SPs. If one cleared the first Divine Shrine quickly and ignored killing the Guardian Boss, they would only receive 20 SPs. With that method, who knew how many Divine Shrines one would have to clear to accumulate 500 SPs? Moreover, as players climbed the Divine Staircase, the Divine Shrines would become more challenging. If players did not earn as many points as possible early on, it would only become more difficult to earn the points they needed later.

It seems that I’ll have to defeat every Divine Shrine’s Guardian Boss. Thinking up to this point, Shi Feng realized the fastest way to earn Shrine Points from the Divine Staircase.

Following which, he proceeded towards the second Divine Shrine.

The second shrine contained a gravel ridge, and its monsters ranged between Level 55 and 58. However, the second shrine had far fewer Elite monsters, and nearly half the shrine’s monsters were Special Elites. Next to the Realm Lord, a few Level 58 Elites guarded the teleportation array.

To Shi Feng, however, this slight increase in difficulty was no issue. He had only spent a few minutes to defeat the Realm Lord and three Elites. This time, however, he did not obtain a Mana Barrier Crystal Fragment. He had only obtained a Level 55 Bronze mage top and some Coins…

Upon clearing the second Divine Shrine, Shi Feng earned 15 SPs. He also received 15 SPs for clearing the shrine within the time limit, and 70 SPs for killing the Guardian Boss.

Although Shi Feng had cleared the second Divine Shrine, he was clearly lagging behind the other players. Even those who had entered the first Divine Shrine sometime after him were already on their way towards the third shrine.

However, Shi Feng did not rush. Instead, he continued to ascend the Divine Staircase at his own pace.

Each Divine Shrine was a little more challenging than the last and awarded 5 more SPs when cleared.

When Shi Feng entered the fifth Divine Shrine, the test’s difficulty visibly increased. Now, every monster he faced was a Special Elite. In terms of Attributes, the monsters were on par with well-equipped, Tier 1 players of the same level. When facing a dozen or so of these monsters at once, even elite players would be in a bind. Even the Guardian Boss was now a Chieftain ranked Realm Lord. Not only did the Chieftain possessed 10,000,000 HP, but its Skills also carried great destructive power. Even Shi Feng did not dare to meet the Boss’s attacks head-on.

Shi Feng only defeated this Guardian Boss after a dozen or so minutes of fighting. Meanwhile, as a Chieftain ranked Realm Lord, the Boss had been very generous. It had dropped two Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments, instantly increasing Shi Feng’s haul to four. Now, he only needed six more fragments to synthesize a Mana Barrier Crystal.

When Shi Feng had cleared the fifth Divine Shrine, the Shrine Points he earned also undergone a qualitative transformation. The clear reward alone rose to 100 SPs, while clearing the shrine within the time limit awarded another 100 SPs, and killing the Guardian Boss within the time limit awarded 500 SPs.

However, the Ranking List before the various Divine Shrines also reported that players had already reached the eighth shrine. There were over a dozen players clearing the shrines with astonishing speed.

…

Meanwhile, while Shi Feng continued to challenge Divine Shrines, Zero Wing City’s fame in Star-Moon Kingdom had exceeded Stone Forest Town’s. The city had become a holy resting ground for many of the kingdom’s players.

Due to the city’s high Mana density, the Double EXP buff accumulation, and the large number of wandering merchants, it took no time at all for Zero Wing City’s player population to break past 1,000,000. The originally empty city was now so lively that Zero Wing City could rival major NPC cities.

“Guild Leader Singular, Zero Wing City’s player population has grown past 1,000,000. The city is even charging players an entrance fee. Its daily income is incredibly high. With this, I don’t think that it’ll be easy to whittle Zero Wing down anymore,” Lei Jingyang reported. He currently rested in one of Zero Wing City’s restaurants, wearing a frown as he watched the crowded street outside.

Initially, he hadn’t cared about Zero Wing City, but after visiting the city personally, he had to admit that it was extraordinary.

“Young Master Lei, although Zero Wing City is better than we expected, Zero Wing’s celebration of the fact will be short-lived.” Singular Burial chuckled; he didn’t seem to mind the fact that Zero Wing City earned considerable wealth for the Guild.

“Don’t tell me you plan to fight it out with Zero Wing?” Lei Jingyang frowned at Singular Burial’s reaction.

He had expected Singular Burial to finish Zero Wing off in a few more days, but clearly, that plan was no longer viable. Not only did Zero Wing City earn a considerable amount of profit for its ruling Guild, but the city improved Zero Wing’s reputation among players. At this rate, Heaven’s Burial could never destroy Zero Wing in a short three to five days.

“Of course not,” Singular Burial said, shaking his head. “Although Zero Wing has achieved great success, at the end of the day, its foundations are shaky. The nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Representatives from the Blackwater Corporation contacted me not long ago, informing me that they are willing to help us against Zero Wing.”

“The Blackwater Corporation?” Lei Jingyang was visibly moved when he heard this. “Why are they suddenly interested in Zero Wing?”

The Blackwater Guild had changed drastically. It now had stronger forces under its command and ample funding. Just some time ago, it had even established a Guild Town in a resource-rich, neutral map. Even Super Guilds avoided any conflict with the Guild.

“I don’t know why, either, but this doesn’t change our plans to take down Zero Wing,” Singular Burial said, chuckling. Taking a look at the time, he continued, “Blackwater’s representatives should’ve arrived in Star-Moon City by now. I should return to meet with them.”

…

Suddenly, Aqua Rose, who was currently busy managing Zero Wing City, received a message from Yaya, stating, “Big Sis Aqua, a few people claiming to be representatives from the Blackwater Corporation have requested a meeting with our Guild’s upper echelons. Should I have them wait in the Guild Residence?”

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