Chapter 837 - Lake Heart City

Inside the Blackwing Auction House…

The moment the Strengthening Devices appeared once more, various members of large Guilds, who had been idling around in the main hall of the Auction House, began frantically contacting the upper echelons of their respective Guilds.

The Strengthening Device from the monthly auction held just before had already become famous. It had even caused a commotion on God's Domain's official forums.

Currently, the monsters in God's Domain were growing more powerful.

It would be a miracle if an ordinary player's equipment could last them over ten hours of grinding out in the fields. If these players frequently fought Elite or stronger monsters, their equipment's Durability would decline even faster—generally lasting eight hours at most. Guild elite members might be able to hold out for a little longer.

However, the current mainstream grinding spots were becoming farther and farther away from cities. Just making a round trip would cost players a lot of time, so much so that their travel time might be even longer than the time they spent grinding monsters.

To the elite members and upper echelons of Guilds, time was money.

It was especially true for the time of Guild experts.

To develop their Guilds, not only were these experts required to maintain a strong lead in Levels, but they were also required to raid Field Bosses and Dungeons to procure equipment for the Guild. Naturally, these experts could not afford to waste all their time on travel.

The obvious solution to this problem was to prepare extra sets of top-tier equipment. However, this method was simply too extravagant even for Guilds.

While the monthly auction was still ongoing, the various large Guilds had immediately experimented on the Strengthening Devices they acquired. As a result, they had already gained a relatively precise understanding of the item's effects.

Previously, they could only make a rough guess based on the introduction of the item. Hence, upon conducting their tests, these large Guilds were shocked.

Although the Strengthening Device could only extend a player's grinding time by three to four times, the better the equipment the Strengthening Device was used on, the greater the effects. In addition, while battling, the bonus Durability provided by the Strengthening Device would be the first to diminish instead of the equipment's own Durability.

In other words, as long as players still had Strengthening Devices on hand, they could devote their time to grinding. They would not have to prepare any additional equipment; neither would they need to return to a city to get their equipment repaired.

If allocated to ordinary or elite players, the 10 Gold Strengthening Device would indeed be very extravagant. However, when assigned to an expert player, it would not be one bit extravagant. On the contrary, it would be a profit, instead.

Unfortunately, the Strengthening Devices were sold only in the monthly auction. This situation caused many large Guilds that had not participated in the auction great frustration.

Now that the Strengthening Device had appeared in the Auction House as a player-sold item, how could the members of the various large Guilds not grow frantic?

Just a few minutes after the Strengthening Devices' appearance, the price for a single unit broke past the 9-Gold threshold. Moreover, the price was still increasing rapidly.

Even Shi Feng had not expected the Strengthening Device to be this popular. When he exited the Auction House, he saw group after group of players rushing into the building.

Huh? Why is Phoenix Rain suddenly contacting me? Just as Shi Feng was preparing to leave Blackwing City, he suddenly received a call from Phoenix Rain. However, the person she was contacting was not Ye Feng but Black Flame.

"Guild Leader Black Flame, have you heard? There is a player selling Strengthening Devices at the Blackwing Auction House right now," Phoenix Rain said through the video chat, smiling.

"Yes, I've also just heard about it." Shi Feng nodded, having already changed to his Black Flame guise. "But why is Phoenix Pavilion Master contacting me?"

"I want to purchase a large number of Strengthening Devices, so I wish to borrow some money from you. Of course, I won't borrow it for nothing. Three days later, I'll return it to you with 30% interest, or you can buy a high-potential Land in one of the Black Dragon Empire's major cities from me." Phoenix Rain smiled as she extended a tempting proposition.

Originally, she had not wished to borrow money from Shi Feng. However, with the appearance of the Strengthening Device—and based on her newfound knowledge regarding the item—she had a great opportunity for the Phoenix Pavilion to surpass the Heavenly Dragon Pavilion.

Level 40 was an important turning point in God's Domain. With the Strengthening Device, she could rapidly raise a group of experts to Level 40. At Level 40, even using only Common Mounts would still bring about explosive improvements to their leveling speeds. They would be able to develop new maps earlier than other Guilds.

However, she had already spent a large part of her funds to purchase other items during the monthly auction. She did not have enough to contest for the Strengthening Devices, not to mention needing money to buy Mounts. Hence, she gave Shi Feng such a lucrative offer.

Of course, the reason why she had looked for Shi Feng to borrow money from and not someone else was mainly because Zero Wing was simply too wealthy.

Zero Wing had relatively few members. The Guild's various departments were also incomplete. The Guild's expenses were not particularly high, either. Moreover, Zero Wing was the proud owner of Star-Moon Kingdom's wealthiest trading firm, the Candlelight Trading Firm. The Guild also possessed the enviable Stone Forest Town. The Guild's daily profits were in no way inferior to even those of a super-first-rate Guild like the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion.

Due to these reasons, the wealth Zero Wing possessed could make even her envious. Just from the bid Ye Feng had placed earlier on the golden tablet, one could tell how rich Zero Wing was.

"Alright, but I want to purchase Land at the Black Dragon Empire's Lake Heart City." Shi Feng inwardly cheered upon hearing Phoenix Rain's words. He had never imagined that the woman would be so desperate. "However, I'll say this first. I still have other uses for my Coins. I won't buy it if your price is too high."

Although he had previously purchased some potential Land in the Black Dragon Empire and subsequently established the Candlelight Trading Firm at these locations, there was a limit to his funds.

Currently, large Guilds within the empire had long since bought up the majority of the potential Land in the empire's major cities. Even if Zero Wing could afford to purchase them now, nobody would be willing to sell any of their Lands. Now that Phoenix Rain was willing to sell potential Land, he naturally had to take advantage of the opportunity. In the future, the value of these plots would increase manifold.

It was especially true for the Land in Lake Heart City.

Lake Heart City was a small island city located within the Black Dragon Empire. The island itself was situated in the middle of Mist Lake, the Black Dragon Empire's largest lake. Lake Heart City was also a producer of one particular item.

And that item was the Ice Jade.

On its own, the Ice Jade was an item that could raise a player's Ice Resistance temporarily. It could also be processed into Ice Resistance Gemstones, which could be inlaid into equipment, similar to regular Gemstones, and greatly increase a player's Ice Resistance. During the initial stages of the game, this item was not particularly valuable. After players reached Level 50, however, the value of Ice Jades would multiply. At that time, the demand for the item would exceed its supply. Likewise, the value of the Lands of Lake Heart City would also increase markedly.

Previously, there had been too many Lands that Zero Wing had to purchase. However, the Guild's funds were extremely constrained. Hence, it had to limit its purchases to a few cities. Although it had earned enough money later on, by then, the potential Lands of Lake Heart City had long since been bought clean. As for the golden Lands of the city, Zero Wing had neither the money nor Reputation required to purchase them. In the end, the Guild had no choice but to settle for an ordinary plot of Land.

"Lake Heart City?" Phoenix Rain checked and discovered that there were indeed two plots of high-potential Land under her name in Lake Heart City. Moreover, although Lake Heart City was one of the major cities in the Black Dragon Empire, the player population there was not particularly high, as the city was mainly a tourist spot for casual players. She had never imagined that Shi Feng would actually be interested in such a location. "Alright. I have Land that is close to the Auction House there. I'll sell it to you at market price, which is 6,200 Gold. However, I also want to borrow an additional 4,000 Gold. I'll return the 4,000 Gold three days later. How about it?"

"Deal." Shi Feng immediately grew ecstatic when he saw the location of the Land in the map Phoenix Rain had sent him. With this plot of Land, he would gain another income source for his city-building funds.

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