Chapter 1 Advancement

As Shi Feng clicked to upgrade the shop, the entire Forest Traveler started to change.

In less than five seconds, the original simple two-story building transformed directly into an exquisite three-story restaurant, standing out considerably from the surrounding shops.

However, the internal changes were even greater than the external ones.

The first floor, which originally could only accommodate a dozen tables, now held more than thirty. The interior space had more than doubled, not to mention the second and third floors.

The entire second floor had become a dining area, while the third floor was for accommodation. However, the interior decoration was very simple, and making it look good would require additional spending.

"Next, I just need to find a way to attract customers and increase the restaurant's turnover," Shi Feng said, nodding slightly as he glanced over the new Forest Traveler.

Although the cost of upgrading the shop was entirely borne by the player, the more upscale and spacious the restaurant became, the higher the fees that could be charged, and the more money that could be earned.

Moreover, more important than the shop upgrade were the two master-level dishes.

One was Zui Hu Rou (Drunken Tiger Meat), and the other was Bing Gu Tang (Ice Bone Soup).

After players consumed these two master-level dishes, one would increase their Strength attribute by 10% for six hours, while the other would increase their Intelligence attribute by 10% for six hours, with no cooldown time in between.

A 10% increase in Strength or Intelligence was a huge boost for melee and magic-based classes, and it could even stack with attribute-enhancing potions. The only drawback was that the effect would disappear automatically upon death, while the effects of many master-level potions would not. However, there was also an advantage: in special dungeons and environments, such as those where items were ineffective, the buffs from the dishes would not disappear.

This would be of considerable help in the future when raiding the world-class boss Void Serpent.

Previously, the Forest Traveler had been too rudimentary, with only the shopkeeper, Joseph, as the chef. Even if the ingredients for both dishes were gathered, the production speed was very slow.

Just seeing the menu, Shi Feng noticed that it took ten minutes to make Zui Hu Rou and slightly faster for Bing Gu Tang, but still eight minutes. However, now that the shop had expanded, two more chefs could be hired to assist, which would double the production speed. As for the ingredients for the two dishes, they were nothing to Zero Wing Guild and could be gathered quickly.

Immediately, Shi Feng opened the Forest Traveler's system panel and quickly recruited two chefs and eight waiters, allowing the Forest Traveler to reopen.

With the reopening of the Forest Traveler, it welcomed its first NPC customer in less than five minutes. The effect was slightly worse than Shi Feng had expected, but it was still acceptable.

In God's Domain, rented restaurants could not only earn players' money but also NPCs' money. However, the profit split was much smaller, only a quarter of that from players. Although it seemed small, it could be considered the restaurant's fixed daily income. As the star rating and scale increased, the fixed daily income would also increase.

Currently, the Forest Traveler was only one-star. The amount of gold coins obtained from NPCs each day was only between three and ten gold. However, after reaching a two-star rating, it could jump from thirty gold to one hundred gold. The most important point was that master-level dishes would also increase, and accommodation fees would also see a qualitative increase.

The accommodation fees in Sea Forest were not determined by players but were fixed prices set by the system based on the scale, star rating, and popularity of the restaurants and inns. One-star was a minimum of 50 silver coins, fluctuating only up to 1 gold coin, but two-star was a minimum of 2 gold coins, fluctuating up to 5 gold coins. Therefore, the accommodation prices in the entire Sea Forest ranged from 50 silver coins to 5 gold coins because the highest was two-star.

However, two-star restaurants and two-star inns were rare in Sea Forest, all concentrated in the central area. But the inns and restaurants in the central area required players to reach a certain status and contribution value to rent.

For the crowded Sea Forest, having a two-star restaurant and inn could greatly increase income.

After settling the Forest Traveler's shop, Shi Feng notified You Yu Wei Xiao (Melancholy Smile), asking her to quickly collect the ingredients for Zui Hu Rou and Bing Gu Tang. On the other side, Shi Feng also left an Abyss Mark in the Forest Traveler's office so that he could come and go freely even without a key when he came to Sea Forest in the future.

Of course, there was an even simpler way: after the rented inns and restaurants reached two-star, special teleportation scrolls could be purchased from the magic shop. The price was not low, five silver coins per scroll, but after becoming an employee of the inn and restaurant, teleportation binding could be performed, and this teleportation scroll could be used to teleport directly to the inn and restaurant.

Currently, the Forest Traveler had not yet reached two-star and did not have such an ability, so he could only use this method.

After confirming that You Yu Wei Xiao had collected the materials, Shi Feng first returned to the guild warehouse to take out the materials needed for production from the warehouse, and then used the Abyss Teleportation back to the Forest Traveler to let the shopkeeper make the dishes as soon as possible.

And Shi Feng was not idle either. He returned directly to the Candlelight Trading Firm to make the standard weapons and advanced magic armor pieces of Titan Holy City, thereby enhancing the weapons of Zero Wing members and incidentally attempting to reach the level of intermediate forging master.

Previously, he had obtained hundreds of copies of materials from Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion and Zhan Hun Bu Luo (War Spirit Undefeated). Frost Cocoa and You Yu Wei Xiao were wholeheartedly busy manufacturing Hell Chariots, so they slowed down a lot in making weapons. Up to now, there were still a lot of remaining materials that had not been used.

In the special forging room, Shi Feng was frantically making standard weapons, and his experience value was also constantly increasing.

As a Dark-Gold-ranked standard weapon, the proficiency given upon production was not only extremely high, but the experience value was also faster than killing monsters. In just two days, Shi Feng's experience value reached 69th level, 70.5%, only less than 30% away from the 70th level mark.

And frantically making standard equipment and advanced magic armor pieces also greatly increased Shi Feng's forging proficiency. He was less than 20,000 proficiency away from advancing to intermediate forging master.

Shi Feng's two-day results were also fruitful. He made more than 300 Dark-Gold-ranked standard weapons and more than 200 advanced magic armor pieces.

Then Shi Feng used 130 Dark-Gold-ranked standard weapons to raise Abyssal Blade to level 55 in one breath. Although there was no fundamental improvement, the attack power increased from the original 2070 points to 2350 points, the all-attribute points increased from 170 points to 192 points, and the attack speed increased from 27 to 29, greatly increasing Shi Feng's off-hand attack power. However, it was still much worse than the Holy Sword Thunder Slay, which increased according to the player's level.

But Shi Feng was also satisfied with this. After all, the current Abyssal Blade had grown into an absolute superb epic weapon. A further step would be a fragment of a legendary item.

"It's almost time, I should go get the dishes." Shi Feng looked at the time, and then used Abyss Teleportation.

When he came to the Forest Traveler again, the number of NPCs in the entire restaurant had also increased a lot. At least it was not as deserted as before, and there were five or six customers in the first-floor restaurant.

After a while, Shi Feng took away 300 portions of Zui Hu Rou and 500 portions of Bing Gu Tang made by Joseph, and then teleported to the guild residence of Zero Wing City.

In the guild's rest hall, Cola and Ban Xia Qing Cheng (Forgetful Summer) and others could not help but go up to him when they saw Shi Feng come in.

"Hehe, Guild Leader, look, I'm level 60 now." Cola could not help but excitedly show Shi Feng his level, showing that he was working hard to upgrade and kill monsters.

In God's Domain, every five levels was a watershed. Level 60 was just such a mark, allowing players' attributes to be greatly improved.

"Guild Leader, did you suddenly call us back for something?" Ban Xia Qing Cheng rolled her eyes at Cola and asked Shi Feng curiously.

"Well, you two try these two sets of equipment." Shi Feng nodded, took out the Lei Yan Zhi Zui (Thunder Flame's Crime) and Zhuo Feng (Scorching Wind) dropped by the Flame Demon Lord from his backpack, and handed them to Ban Xia Qing Cheng and Cola respectively.