Chapter 1 Shadow Blade Ruins

Star-Moon Kingdom, Shadow Blade Ruins.

As a high-resource map for levels 40 to 50 near Star-Moon Kingdom, a large number of players enter the Shadow Blade Ruins every day. However, the players leveling up in this map are now in a state of panic.

Throughout the map, player teams are suddenly attacked by large groups of powerful monsters. Among these monsters are humanoid, unicorn monsters with high intelligence. Their combat skills are even higher than some elite players. With their high stats, they charge into the crowd like wolves among sheep. Each attack bypasses the players' defenses and directly strikes vital points. Even healers can't keep up, and players are killed.

Only the leading expert players can barely hold them off.

"Guild Leader, our teleport scrolls are unusable!" A swordsman, level 40 and clad in light blue armor, reported anxiously.

"How is that possible? Didn't our members use teleport scrolls to escape danger just an hour ago?" The burly shield warrior, level 41, who was blocking the humanoid unicorn monster, frowned as he watched the increasing number of monsters.

The Shadow Blade Ruins are still dangerous for current players. Therefore, when exploring the map, each team prepares some Tier 0 teleport scrolls to prevent traps or being surrounded by monsters.

Now, their hundred-member team is surrounded by hundreds of monsters.

If it were just hundreds of elite monsters led by a boss monster, it would be fine, but they are surrounded by a monster army led by three level 50+ Lord monsters and a dozen level 50+ Elite monsters…

Moreover, a level 51 Elite-ranked unicorn humanoid monster poses an even greater threat than the Lord monsters.

On a high ground not far from the intense battle, two players were quietly observing everything. One was an assassin holding a jet-black crystal. This assassin's skin was dark gray, exuding a strong aura of darkness, and a blood-red mark was imprinted between his eyebrows. If Shi Feng were here, he would find this assassin very familiar. It was none other than Qi Yitao, the former president of the Blackwater Guild.

The other was Yan Xue, a priest holding a white jade staff and wearing a black cloak.

"This fiend is truly terrifying. Just one is enough to force a level 41 expert shield warrior to activate life-saving and burst skills to resist," Yan Xue exclaimed, looking at the expert shield warrior in the distance who was falling into a disadvantageous position.

"This is nothing," Qi Yitao said with a smile. "That's just a newly cultivated fiend. Now that the entire Shadow Blade Ruins have been sealed off, we won't play with them slowly."

Immediately, Qi Yitao tapped the jet-black crystal in his hand, and five Lord-ranked fiends, all level 55, appeared before him. Compared to the level 51 fiend currently in battle, these five fiends were not only larger but also possessed a hint of agility in their dark eyes, clearly indicating higher intelligence than the Elite-ranked fiends.

"So strong!" Yan Xue felt a chill in his heart as he looked at the five Lord-ranked fiends before him.

Just one Lord-ranked fiend was already making it difficult for him to breathe. As one of the top experts of the Underworld Burial Guild, his intuition was extremely keen. He had no doubt that the Lord-ranked fiend before him could kill him in two or three moves.

This power came not only from attributes but also, and more importantly, from combat experience.

And there were five such monsters.

He couldn't imagine what would happen if they charged into the crowd.

"Go and kill all those people!" Qi Yitao pointed to the hundred-member elite team fighting in the distance.

The five Lord-ranked fiends disappeared from before Qi Yitao in a flash and charged directly toward the hundred-member elite team that was struggling in a bitter fight.

The moment these five fiends entered the battlefield, the level 41 shield warrior leading the team gasped.

"It's over…" The shield warrior looked at his teammate being directly swatted to death and felt utter despair.

In just a short time, the hundred-member elite team led by expert players was completely wiped out, with no one escaping alive. Then, Qi Yitao walked over to begin the ritual.

Immediately, the hundred-member elite team turned into a monster army, and the killed team leader turned into a small, special Elite-ranked fiend. In addition to these fiends, the corpses of two players from the team also turned into unicorn fiends, but only Elite-ranked ones.

"Hahaha, the guild's elite team is indeed good. Just eliminating one team yielded three fiends. Zero Wing Guild, just wait and wash your necks. Before long, I will let your smug selves experience what despair is," Qi Yitao said with satisfaction as he looked at the three fiends. "Alright, let's go to the next place. The battle there should be over as well."

The difference between killing an adventurer team and killing a guild elite team was simply too great. Previously, killing two or three elite adventurer teams would only create one fiend. Now, killing one guild elite team directly created three, and one of them was a fiend with high potential. This efficiency had increased two or three times.

At this rate, it wouldn't take many days to not only flatten Stone Forest Town but also easily take down an NPC stronghold.

After Shi Feng took care of the city-building matters, he directly contacted Melancholic Smile and asked her to find five trustworthy advanced enchanters within the Candlelight Trading Firm, and they had to sign strict contracts.

The Tier 2 class advancement quest was no small matter, and it would take a long time.

Therefore, Shi Feng planned to arrange all the matters of the guild and the trading firm first, and then focus on the quest.

The Candlelight Trading Firm was already recognized as the number one trading firm in the Star-Moon Kingdom, and with a three-star shop, many lifestyle players came to apply every day. Beginner and intermediate professions had no advantage in the Candlelight Trading Firm and could only be considered reserve members. Only advanced professions that passed the assessment could directly become formal members of Candlelight. Even so, many advanced profession players came every day.

Advanced enchanters, who were difficult to find for other trading firms, were available in batches at the Candlelight Trading Firm.

"Who is willing to become a core enchanter of the Candlelight Trading Firm? Sign up here!" Melancholic Smile came to the lounge area for advanced professions and shouted directly.

Immediately, the advanced lifestyle players in the entire lounge area perked up their ears. However, upon hearing that it was only for enchanters, many advanced lifestyle players looked at the enchanters beside them with envy.

"Sigh, it's actually enchanters. I wonder when it will be our turn as blacksmiths," a delicate-looking advanced blacksmith sighed.

Miao Wu Yin, who was resting nearby, looked at the disappointed expressions of the crowd with a blank and puzzled expression.

What was there to envy?

All core members of the trading firm had to sign strict contracts and lose a lot of freedom. Unlike formal members, they only had to complete a fixed amount of work each day and could do whatever they wanted. Even if they really left the Candlelight Trading Firm, they only needed to pay a portion of the penalty and forget the recipes they learned in the Candlelight Trading Firm. However, it was different for core members and advanced members. If they wanted to leave the Candlelight Trading Firm at that time, they would not only have to pay huge penalties but also have their proficiency reset and forget all the recipes they learned, and they could only start from scratch.

"Wu Yin, you're new here, so you may not know. Our Candlelight Trading Firm has precious Holy City slots. That's a great opportunity to become a master. However, only core members and advanced members are qualified to compete for that slot, and core members will occupy most of the Holy City slots. Therefore, everyone wants to become a core member of Candlelight, but unfortunately, it takes luck to become a core member," an elegant female alchemist looked at Miao Wu Yin's blank expression and patiently explained.

"Does the Candlelight Trading Firm have Holy City slots?" Miao Wu Yin couldn't help but be surprised.

She had already learned about the Holy City slots from the auction and knew how much they helped to become a master. She didn't expect the Candlelight Trading Firm to have Holy City slots.

This made Miao Wu Yin somewhat tempted. However, thinking of what Shi Feng had said to her, she quickly shook her head again, feeling that she was almost like what Shi Feng said. She thought to herself, "Hmph, this young lady doesn't believe that with my ability, I will definitely make Candlelight beg me to stay and offer the Holy City slots with both hands."

In the special forging room on the sixth floor of the Candlelight Trading Firm, the five advanced enchanters who followed Melancholic Smile in were extremely nervous because they were facing the president of the number one guild in the Star-Moon Kingdom, the number one expert in the Star-Moon Kingdom, a legendary figure.

"It's very simple to find you. Learn this Beginner Rune Encyclopedia, and then just make runes. As for the materials, don't worry about them. Moreover, whoever makes the most within the limited time will have a share of the Holy City slots next time," Shi Feng immediately took out the Beginner Rune Encyclopedia he got from the Sea God's Temple.

The various major powers had not yet obtained beginner runes, but they were one of the common consumables in God's Domain. Not only was the price affordable, but the effect was also very obvious. As long as they were made, they were in short supply.

Currently, he had spent almost all the money he earned from the auction. After deducting the money for the class advancement quest and the money for guild development, there was nothing left. The cost required to build a city had just begun, and more money was needed to develop the city in the future, so he had to plan ahead.

Now that the Candlelight Trading Firm had the twenty shops traded by Tianji Pavilion, plus the golden shops in two major cities mortgaged by Feng Qianyu, it was definitely a good opportunity to sell beginner runes and make a name for the Candlelight Trading Firm.

The five advanced enchanters' eyes lit up when they heard this. They didn't expect to have the opportunity to learn such a thing and have the opportunity to get Holy City slots. They clicked to learn without saying a word, and then anxiously left the forging room to study how to make them and improve the success rate.

After everyone left, Shi Feng also took out thirty pieces of level 45 Fine-Gold weapons and ten pieces of level 45 Dark-Gold weapons that he had just taken out of the warehouse.

The Tier 2 class advancement quest was already extraordinary, let alone his Holy Ten inheritance. Even if he had amazing combat power now, he still had to improve everything he could. Naturally, the level 40 Demon Sword Abyss Breaker in his hand would not be an exception. After all, he was already level 50, and a level 40 weapon was no longer suitable for him.

"Start devouring!"