Chapter 1574: Advanced Forging Design

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Aside from weapons, equipment, and Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments, a tattered sheet of parchment rested among the many items the Five-headed Demon Snake had dropped.

As the parchment itself was very high-quality, it still radiated faint pulses of Mana despite the ravages of time.

Shi Feng picked up the parchment out of curiosity.

This is…an Advanced Forging Design! Shi Feng was elated when he realized what this sheet of parchment was.

In God’s Domain, every Advanced Design was extremely rare and valuable. This was because Advanced Designs contained techniques unknown to the general public. For example, an Advanced Forging Design would contain a few different kinds of Advanced Forging Techniques. If players learned these techniques, they’d increase their chances of creating a new item in the future.

The various large Guilds had cherished their Advanced Designs in the past. They had all refused to sell these designs. At the same time, the large Guilds’ trading firms had fought over these items.

Zero Wing had only obtained a few Advanced Designs thus far, including Advanced Forging Designs.

Moreover, the design in his hands was not just any ordinary Advanced Forging Design.

…

[Conqueror’s Armor Forging Design Fragment] (Advanced Design, Fine-Gold Rank) When learned, you will be able to produce the Level 50 Magic Rune Armor. Every piece of crafted armor contains a magic array. Five pieces can be used to form the Basic Strength Battle Array. (Current fragment count 1/9)

…

I never expected the Divine Shrines to drop something like this! I’ve really lucked out this time. Shi Feng was at a loss for words as he stared at the Conqueror’s Armor Design.

Not only had the Five-headed Demon Snake dropped two Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments, but it had also dropped a Fine-Gold Equipment Design that came with a battle array. Killing the Demon Snake had been far more profitable than killing a Level 60 Grand Lord.

A well-equipped peak expert in God’s Domain wasn’t a force to be reckoned with. In fact, despite being an individual, they were capable of playing a significant role in a Guild war. However, that did not mean ordinary players were utterly helpless against peak experts. Ordinary players still had a method they could use to fight peak experts.

Battle arrays!

If a certain number of players wore equipment with the same battle array, they could trigger the battle array’s effects, significantly increasing their combat power.

Battle arrays provided more than just a boost to Basic Attributes; they also improved players’ physiques. Most importantly, it allowed players with the same array to share their perception. This helped players remove defensive blind spots, visibly improving their combat standards.

Although a Basic Battle Array only allowed players to share a limited degree of their perception, it still elevated players’ combat standards to a whole new level.

Many of God’s Domain’s small Guilds in the past had survived and thrived, even after ten years, precisely because of battle arrays.

Even without peak experts, Guilds with powerful battle arrays could take down a peak expert with just a few players or a dozen or so working together. Some small Guilds had even stood toe-to-toe with large Guilds by relying on these arrays.

Of course, battle arrays were not without weaknesses.

In exchange for the huge boost in strength, players’ Stamina and Concentration consumption increased massively. When players activated a battle array, their Stamina and Concentration would deplete several times faster than normal. This limited the amount of time that players had when using battle arrays.

However, despite such a glaring flaw, battle arrays had been highly sought after by many Guilds.

Equipment with battle arrays was extremely rare, and usually only dropped from super-large-scale Team Dungeons. Monsters in the fields had no chance of dropping such items. Moreover, the higher-quality a piece of battle array equipment was, the more valuable it was. A piece of battle array equipment could easily sell for several times more than a piece of equipment of the same rank.

Although he had only obtained a fragment of a Level 50 Fine-Gold Battle Array Equipment Design, it was still quite valuable. If he completed the design, its value would be immeasurable.

Since the Divine Shrine’s Guardian Boss dropped a fragment, the other shrine’s Bosses should have a chance of dropping them as well. As Shi Feng examined the Conqueror’s Armor Design, he inwardly swore to complete it no matter what. Immediately, he moved towards the teleportation array and proceeded to the next Divine Shrine.

By the time Shi Feng appeared on the staircase leading to the 11th Divine Shrine, players had already reached the 15th. He was far behind.

…

System: Congratulations! You have passed the Divine Shrine. Rewarding 300 Shrine Points.

System: Congratulations! You have passed the Divine Shrine within the time limit. Rewarding 300 Shrine Points.

System: Congratulations! You have killed the Guardian Boss within the time limit. Rewarding 2,000 Shrine Points.

…

However, although other players progressed faster than he did, Shi Feng contained the most SPs of any player in the World Summit. Currently, Shi Feng had already accumulated 8,960 SPs. If players ascended the Divine Staircase without defeating the Guardian Bosses, even after reaching the 15th Divine Shrine, they would not have even half of Shi Feng’s points.

Time passed quickly, and the Divine Shrines became more difficult as Shi Feng climbed the Divine Staircase. By the time Shi Feng reached the 15th Divine Shrine, he had to face a Lord ranked Realm Lord with a special Bloodline. By the time he emerged from the 15th shrine, many players had been eliminated in the 20th shrine.

As Shi Feng had guessed, the other shrines’ Guardian Bosses had a chance of dropping the Conqueror’s Armor Forging Design Fragment if he activated Divine Providence when he killed them. By the time he had cleared the 15th Divine Shrine, he had gained another fragment. He just needed to wait for Divine Providence’s Cooldown to end before proceeding to the next Divine Shrine.

As for Mana Barrier Crystal Fragments, he now had 17.

However, Shi Feng had grown a bit weary after fighting for so long. Taking a look at the time, he realized how long he had spent in God’s Domain. He then consumed a drop of Life Essence from the Blood Refining Crystal to boost his Stamina and Concentration recovery before logging out of the game.

Players’ accumulated time in the World Summit only decreased when players were online; logging off to rest would not affect one’s progress. Hence, to maintain their combat efficiency, many players had long since chosen to log out. After all, challenging the Divine Staircase was a long and arduous progress, and as one climbed the staircase, they’d have to navigate larger maps in the Divine Shrines. As a result, players had to spend more time clearing the shrines.

By the time Shi Feng logged out, the sun had risen high into the sky. The moment Shi Feng’s consciousness returned to his body, he was bombarded by a series of messages and call notifications. There were messages and calls from both Blackie and Aqua Rose.

In fact, Shi Feng received another call from Aqua Rose before he had the chance to leave his gaming cabin.

“What’s with the urgency? Has something happened?” Shi Feng curiously asked after accepting the call.

“Guild Leader, you’ve finally picked up. Any later and I would’ve sent Blackie to look for you in person,” Aqua Rose said somewhat anxiously. “While you were gone, Zero Wing City has developed nicely. The player population has already broken past the 1,000,000-threshold. Once we finish constructing the NPC Shops, the city will attract even more players. But some time ago, two representatives from the Blackwater Corporation sought me out. They told us to hand over Youlan and her companions and 50% of Zero Wing City’s income as compensation. Otherwise, they’ll turn the full might of the Blackwater Guild against us.”

“Hand over Youlan, her companions, and 50% of Zero Wing City’s profits?” Shi Feng frowned.

The Blackwater Corporation’s retaliation didn’t surprise him in the least, but he didn’t expect Blackwater to take action so quickly. Moreover, the corporation’s timing couldn’t be worse, targeting them while they were in a war of attrition against Heaven’s Burial. This put Zero Wing at a considerable disadvantage.

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