Chapter 153 Mana Armor

The second floor of Starstreak Trading Firm housed the premium goods counter.

The high-grade whetstones were extremely popular, but their sales were limited each day, causing major guilds and individual players to queue up to purchase them.

However, today, the second-floor counter was noticeably less crowded. Very few people were lining up, and those who were present were just casual players browsing around. Not a single guild player was to be seen in the spacious hall. The high-grade whetstones were completely ignored. Anna, the trading firm's manager, became anxious upon seeing this situation and immediately launched an investigation. She quickly sent the results of her investigation to Shi Feng, who was currently working, for him to make a decision.

"I knew this would happen, but they're acting fast. Dark Star must be planning a war," Shi Feng said calmly with a smile after reading the information sent by Anna.

The main reason why business at Starstreak Trading Firm had suddenly become so slow was that Dark Star had found blacksmiths and alchemists who could produce high-grade whetstones and intermediate mana recovery potions. Dark Star then heavily promoted these products through its channels, selling them at prices much lower than Starstreak's. A set of high-grade whetstones originally cost 1 gold and 40 silver, but Dark Star sold them for only 1 gold. Intermediate mana recovery potions were also cheaper by 1 silver coin.

Although the prices were much lower, high-grade whetstones and intermediate mana recovery potions were still very profitable products. Even with the price reduction, they could still earn several times their cost. Dark Star would naturally do this to attract customers.

As for the players, they naturally went wherever the prices were lower. This was an immutable law, because no one was foolish enough to buy the same quality item for a higher price.

But that wasn't all. Dark Star also implemented a more ruthless exchange mechanism. The exchange rate for ordinary whetstones remained unchanged, but the exchange rate for high-grade whetstones was directly changed to 1:7, which was slightly higher than the success rate of an intermediate blacksmith apprentice. This was much more favorable than Starstreak's 1:9 exchange rate, leading many players to exchange their materials at Dark Star.

Starstreak didn't have a solid source of Tough Stones. They relied solely on Shi Feng's previous accumulation of Tough Stones. It wouldn't be long before they ran out of them. Without raw materials, how could they continue production?

Moreover, Dark Star Guild had an advantage that Shi Feng didn't have: the number of people who could produce high-grade whetstones. As time passed, Dark Star could obtain more high-grade whetstone design diagrams from dungeons, continuously increasing the number of people who could produce them. On the other hand, only Shi Feng could produce them at Starstreak, but Shi Feng didn't have a team, nor did he have the time to farm design diagrams from low-level team dungeons. The result of this situation was that Dark Star would eventually surpass Starstreak.

Subsequently, Shi Feng notified Anna that since Dark Star had lowered its prices, they should do the same, matching Dark Star's prices. However, this would only apply to White River City, while the other seven cities would remain unchanged. He also told her to launch the Basic Mana Armor Plating immediately.

Anna's execution was extremely efficient. She completed the tasks soon after Shi Feng assigned them. She even set up a special counter on the second floor to sell the Basic Mana Armor Plating.

As the new counter was launched, players who were purchasing items quickly noticed it.

"Huh, there's a new counter here. What's a Mana Armor Plating?"

"Let's go take a look and find out."

An elite squad was originally planning to exchange some ordinary whetstones to use in low-level dungeons, but they decided to check out the new product when they saw it being launched.

"Damn, this is insane. Is this made of silver? A broken armor plating actually costs 20 silver coins. You can buy a Level 10 Bronze equipment with that much money. And they only limit you to fifty of these things a day."

"It's really expensive. We're an elite squad, but our earnings from a low-level dungeon are only two or three pieces of Bronze equipment. We lose experience and have to repair our equipment and spend money on potions. One armor plating is worth our squad's total earnings for a whole day."

"Wait a minute, the stats on this armor plating are really high, and you can bind three of them. The total stats of three platings are higher than a Level 10 Mysterious-Iron-grade breastplate."

"Look, each armor plating has the Black Flame mark on it. Could this be something made by that Black Flame blacksmith?"

At first, the members of the squad were cursing Starstreak for being black-hearted, but after seeing the stats of the Mana Armor Plating and the Black Flame mark, they all shuddered. Who was Black Flame? Every old player in the Star-Moon Kingdom knew.

The Luminescent Breastplate had once caused a sensation. Although the Luminescent Breastplate was now outdated, its stylish design made many players treasure it, especially those with the Black Flame mark. They were so stylish that they were considered the best-looking breastplate in God's Domain. Countless players who liked to collect good-looking equipment wanted one, but the quantity was too small. They were now being sold for 50 silver coins each on the black market, and even then, no one was selling them.

Now, Black Flame had reappeared, and he was selling such powerful Mana Armor Plating.

As the saying goes in the Star-Moon Kingdom, anything made by Black Flame is a masterpiece.

"How much money do we have left?" the squad leader suddenly asked softly in the team chat.

"Brother Qin, we have less than 43 silver coins combined. We saved this money up to repair our equipment and buy potions. You don't mean...?"

"We'll exchange some of the Tough Stones we got for ordinary whetstones, and sell the rest, as well as all the gems we got earlier. We'll buy as many Mana Armor Platings as we can before anyone else notices. As long as the MT and healer each bind three Mana Armor Platings, we can easily clear low-level dungeons. When Starstreak sells out, we can resell them at a high price and make back a fortune."

The other members of the squad agreed with his reasoning and started to prepare, selling everything they could to buy Basic Mana Armor Plating.

If the MT and healer had an extra piece of top-grade Mysterious-Iron equipment, they could reduce the number of deaths in low-level dungeons. Especially with the additional 240 points of defense and 12 points of stamina, the MT's strength would directly increase by one level. Bosses that were difficult to tank before would become much easier, not to mention that the healer would also improve by one level.

Subsequently, the MT and healer of this elite squad each bound three armor platings, keeping one extra for backup.

In fact, it wasn't just this elite squad. Other elite squads and solo players who came to browse also quietly sold off their assets. Some players with money in real life even bought silver coins with Credits at high prices, frantically buying Basic Mana Armor Plating.

Fifty Basic Mana Armor Platings disappeared quietly just like that…

The night sky was filled with stars and a faint moon. Many players would come to the bar to have a good time drinking, chatting, and laughing.

"Old Qin, why is your squad so happy today? You're even spending money on such expensive drinks. Is it your birthday?" a berserker captain from an elite squad asked.

"Today, our Three Wolves Squad is happy. This bottle of Ice-Blue Liquor is on us for your Nine Birds Squad."

"You guys didn't really strike it rich, did you? You're being so generous. This is a high-grade liquor worth 3 silver coins a bottle."

"Of course. Today, our squad cleared a Hard Mode small dungeon for the first time, and we even got a Mysterious-Iron-grade equipment for our MT. Tomorrow, our squad is going to clear another Hard Mode small dungeon."

The players in the bar were shocked to hear that someone had cleared a Hard Mode small dungeon, and they cast envious glances at them.

Currently, there were only a handful of free squads in White River City that could clear a Hard Mode small dungeon.

"Old Qin, stop bragging. I know your squad's strength. Don't even mention Hard Mode, you guys stumble through Normal Mode, dying several times," the captain of the Nine Birds Squad said, scoffing in disbelief.

"Hahaha, that was impossible before, but our MT now has a thousand points of defense and over 1,600 points of health," the player called Old Qin said smugly.

This surprised the members of the Nine Birds Squad because the two squads were old acquaintances and knew each other very well. The Three Wolves Squad's MT wasn't that strong before and was a bit weaker than their squad's MT.

After some probing, the Nine Birds Squad spent 20 silver coins to learn the secret of clearing Hard Mode small dungeons from the Three Wolves Squad.