Chapter 1 The Rising Tide

White River City, Candlelight Trading Firm.

A towering structure of more than twenty stories stood on the main thoroughfare of the commercial district. Compared to the surrounding player shops and NPC stores, it resembled a giant, amazing countless players who came to White River City. Especially those players aiming to develop their secondary occupations looked at the Candlelight Trading Firm with eyes full of longing.

This wasn't just because the Candlelight Trading Firm was a four-star shop, boasting beginner meditation rooms that many powers couldn't match, but also because of Stone Forest City, which countless players envied.

Not long ago, Zero Wing released a new announcement: members of the Zero Wing Guild could use Guild Contribution Points to directly purchase private residences in Stone Forest City.

This was especially true with the Candlelight Trading Firm preparing to auction off the rental rights to private residences in Stone Forest City.

Players from various forces and independent players were green with envy.

Even a fool understood that a Guild City like Stone Forest City had unlimited potential, especially since it was located on a Level 100 neutral map. Although Level 100 neutral maps were dangerous, they were, without a doubt, leveling paradises with scenery unmatched by the kingdoms and empires.

To own a private residence in Stone Forest City would be something to boast about for a lifetime.

But how easy was it to obtain a permanent private residence?

Zero Wing didn't sell private residences outright, only leased them. Once the lease expired, one had to participate in the auction again. Whether or not one could win a bid was another matter entirely, making it far less desirable than owning a permanent private residence.

But now, Zero Wing members could. How could others not be envious?

Shi Feng walked towards the Candlelight Trading Firm. Even though he wore a black cloak, the Zero Wing core member badge he wore attracted envious glances from many players on the street.

"That person is actually a core member of Zero Wing. If only I could get to know him," a female Elementalist who had reached Level 96 looked at Shi Feng with shining eyes.

These days, Zero Wing was at its zenith in the surrounding countries, with various forces giving them face. Core members of Zero Wing were sought after by countless adventurer teams, making it easier to get by in the Cold Spring Forest.

"He's just a core member of Zero Wing, what's so great about it?" A Level 97 Shield Warrior beside her said with some jealousy, "If I didn't like being unfettered, I could join Zero Wing and become a core member in minutes."

"That's probably difficult. I heard that there are so many people joining Zero Wing Guild now that the threshold for becoming an elite member has already reached the middle of the fifth floor of the Trial Tower. Now, to become a core member, you need to reach at least the middle of the sixth floor," the Level 96 female Elementalist glanced at the somewhat unconvinced Shield Warrior and shook her head.

Currently, players who were generally recognized as experts in God's Domain had to reach the latter part of the fifth floor of the Trial Tower. The gap between the fifth and sixth floors of the Trial Tower was vast. Experts who could reach the middle of the sixth floor were rare even in well-known adventurer teams.

The Level 97 Shield Warrior was speechless upon hearing the basic requirements for core members.

In their well-known Black Dragon Empire adventurer team, there were only a few experts who could reach the middle of the sixth floor of the Trial Tower, and he had only reached the latter part of the fifth floor. The difference was significant.

"The conditions for core members are already so high?" Shi Feng was surprised to hear their discussion.

To ensure resources for the Guild's core members, Zero Wing had a set number of core members. After all, resources were limited, especially rare resources, which couldn't be supplied endlessly. Of course, if one could meet the hard requirements for core members, they could be considered core members outside of the quota.

He remembered that the basic condition for Zero Wing core members a few days ago was only the initial stage of the sixth floor of the Trial Tower, with the hard condition being the latter stage of the sixth floor, exempting them from the monthly elimination.

But now it had reached the middle of the sixth floor. One could imagine how many experts had joined Zero Wing. It had to be said that the effect of Stone Forest City was excellent.

Moreover, as time passed, the basic requirements for core members would become higher and higher, and the number of Guild experts would increase.

However, while Shi Feng was happy, he also felt a considerable amount of pressure.

The increase in Guild experts also meant an increase in demand for Guild resources. Although Zero Wing had been taking steady steps, the surge in experts attracted by Stone Forest City meant that if they couldn't retain and develop these experts with sufficient resources, they would eventually be lost to other forces that owned towns on the Level 100 neutral map.

Whether Zero Wing could take a step further and grow into a Guild that was not inferior to those super forces depended on whether Zero Wing could obtain a large amount of resources and Gold Coins in the immediate future.

With that thought, Shi Feng immediately entered the Candlelight Trading Firm.

At this time, Melancholic Smile had already gathered the Mithril ranked guards that she had painstakingly collected in the meditation room. Seeing Shi Feng walk in, she handed over the list and data of these guards to Shi Feng.

"Guild Leader, these are the sixteen highly potential Mithril ranked guards that I found in various kingdoms and empires during this period. Although there are some other Mithril ranked guards, their potential is not very high." Melancholic Smile pointed to the Mithril ranked guards standing in a row, saying somewhat awkwardly.

Shi Feng had provided her with a lot of clues, and she had even mobilized the channels of the Tianji Commerce, but after so many days, she had only found sixteen.

"Sixteen?" Shi Feng was secretly delighted to hear Melancholic Smile's introduction.

How easy was it to find Mithril ranked guards? One had to know that Mithril ranked guards had a considerable chance of being promoted to Tier 4 classes.

Tier 4 classes!

This was a force that even first-rate guilds couldn't ignore. After all, there were too few Tier 5 and Tier 6 peak experts. In an era when Tier 3 classes could be regarded as the backbone of the Guild, Tier 4 class experts were guests of honor in first-rate guilds and were feared by second and third-rate guilds.

To be able to find sixteen highly potential Mithril ranked guards at this time was already a remarkable feat.

Subsequently, Shi Feng had Melancholic Smile continue to collect Mithril ranked potential guards and airship materials, while Shi Feng quietly brought the sixteen Mithril guards to the second underground warehouse of the Candlelight Trading Firm, which was also a private warehouse that only shop managers could enter.

As an Epic ranked item, the Limit of the Ancient God was only able to be enhanced once a day. He currently only had ten days, which was only enough to enhance ten guards. He didn't have enough time.

So now he planned to use the Holy Grail to improve the Limit of the Ancient God.

Previously, he didn't dare to improve the Limit of the Ancient God because it was soul-bound, could not be traded, and could not be stored in the warehouse. There was a certain chance of it dropping upon death. If he died and the improved Limit of the Ancient God was gone, he would be heartbroken.

But now he had been promoted to a Tier 3 class, possessing enough self-protection power, the chance of being killed was very low.

Moreover, the effects of the Limit of the Ancient God were amazing. If it could be further improved, it would have unimaginable effects on Zero Wing.

In the warehouse, Shi Feng took out the Holy Grail and scanned the fifth page of the Limit of the Ancient God with the Holy Grail.

Before long, the Holy Grail displayed the Life Force required to enhance the Limit of the Ancient God, requiring a permanent sacrifice of 50,000 points of Life Value...

"So much!" Shi Feng was startled by the data.

This Life Value was simply fatal to Tier 2 classes, and it was only potentially successful. If it failed, then the Life Value would be completely gone. This was why he didn't use the Holy Grail casually.

However, Shi Feng didn't think about it for too long, because compared to improving the Limit of the Ancient God, these 50,000 points of Life Value were not unacceptable. After all, the Limit of the Ancient God was not an ordinary Epic ranked item. He had nearly one million points of Life Value, and as a Swordsman, he didn't care much about the thickness of his Life Value. The most important point was that there were many ways to permanently increase Life Value in God's Domain.

"Evolve!"

Shi Feng gritted his teeth and chose to sacrifice 50,000 points of Life Value. Instantly, the Holy Grail absorbed a large amount of Life Value from Shi Feng, and a purplish-blue mist enveloped the damaged Limit of the Ancient God.