Chapter 158 Border City

Soon Shi Feng paid the teleportation fee of 80 Silver Coins per person, totaling 4 Gold and 80 Silver for the entire team. This was an amount that ordinary teams could not afford even if they sold all their possessions.

The Soria Great Forest was a neutral zone where the Black Dragon Empire and the Star-Moon Kingdom converged.

Currently, players simply didn't have the strength to survive there.

The Soria Great Forest was also known as the Forest of Death, a leveling map three to four times more difficult than ordinary maps, with levels ranging from 50 to 70. High levels weren't the biggest threat. The reason it was called the Forest of Death was that it lacked any human fortresses or settlements, and it was filled with various terrifying magical beasts and beastmen.

The Soria Great Forest was a kingdom of beastmen, posing the greatest threat to players. The beastmen were extremely hostile to outsiders, and patrols could be encountered at any time. These patrols were not only incredibly strong, but they could also summon allies to encircle and suppress players, making it difficult for players to survive.

Through the magic teleportation array, Shi Feng and the others were soon teleported to Starfall City, a border city of the Star-Moon Kingdom.

Starfall City was the second largest city in the northern Star-Moon Kingdom.

Despite being located at the kingdom's border, its prosperity was the highest in the entire northern region of the Star-Moon Kingdom. Its city level was the same as White River City, but it had more Tier 4 NPCs guarding it, as many as seven. The city's defensive strength far exceeded White River City, second only to the Star-Moon Royal City.

"This place is so bustling!" Hei ZI exclaimed, looking at the vastly different scenery on the streets.

There were many NPC patrol guards on the streets, almost twice as many as in White River City. In addition to the large number of NPC guards, there were also many merchants. Carts carrying goods could be seen coming and going on the streets.

These merchants were not only NPCs but also player merchants. These player merchants drove their carts around, with many stopping in one place to constantly call out and buy various items.

"What are they doing?"

Cola saw these player merchants frantically buying various materials and equipment from other players, and some even directly buying common items from NPC merchants. They were spending tens of gold, even hundreds of gold, which was enough for a small guild to use for a long time.

In White River City, no player would be crazy enough to buy so many common items sold by NPC merchants. This would be a considerable waste of funds for ordinary guilds.

"Those people are just reselling goods to earn the price difference," Shi Feng said, glancing at them.

"Earn the price difference?" Hei Zi asked in confusion. "But the prices of items sold by NPCs are the same throughout the Star-Moon Kingdom. Only some special items can be resold, but there are too few of them, and as soon as they appear, they are snapped up by the major guilds for their own use. Who are they buying these for?"

"Of course, they're selling them to players," Shi Feng said with a smile. "Although the ordinary items sold by NPC merchants in the Star-Moon Kingdom are at a uniform price, the prices in other kingdoms and empires are different. Some things are more expensive in the empire, while others are cheaper than in the Star-Moon Kingdom. They earn the price difference by selling cheap items from the Star-Moon Kingdom to the Black Dragon Empire and buying cheap items from the Black Dragon Empire to sell here."

"Isn't there a magic teleportation array? Wouldn't it be better to transport goods directly with the magic teleportation array?" Hei Zi asked curiously. "Why use carts?"

"It's simple. The transportation cost of the magic teleportation array is too high, and only the magic teleportation arrays in the royal capitals can go to other kingdoms and empires. Each teleportation costs more than one gold. The profit margin on these goods isn't high, and players can only carry so much. One teleportation might result in a loss."

"Carts can carry a lot of goods, with a capacity more than ten times that of a player. Better carts can carry twenty or thirty times as much. Although it takes some time and there may be dangers along the way when traveling to the Black Dragon Empire by cart, overall, one trip can still earn a lot of money, even more than our guild's elite players."

Shi Feng had some understanding of the merchant class. In his previous life, the guild often organized trade caravans for cross-border trade, which generated a lot of guild funds. Starfall City had a natural cross-border advantage, which was why many merchants from the Star-Moon Kingdom came here to develop.

Everyone was surprised to hear that cross-border trade was so profitable.

The benefits of the Zero Wing Guild were definitely among the best in the Star-Moon Kingdom. The money earned by elite members every day was more than that of elite members of other guilds because Zero Wing was a two-star guild, with more and better high-level guild tasks, and the rewards were also more generous, even comparable to those earned by ordinary expert players.

These merchant players earned even more than their guild's elite players, meaning they earned more than ordinary experts in God's Domain.

"Alright, let's split up and see if there are any caravans about to depart," Shi Feng instructed.

Starfall City wasn't close to the Soria Great Forest. If players relied on their legs, it would take more than ten hours to run there. Shi Feng would be faster, as he had the Seven Luminaries Ring, which made teleportation very convenient, but the others didn't have the Seven Luminaries Ring and could only rely on their legs.

The road from Starfall City to the Black Dragon Empire inevitably passed through the outermost part of the Soria Great Forest.

Traveling by cart would only take three or four hours, which was faster than ordinary mounts.

Going to the Black Dragon Empire wasn't easy for trade caravans, so they generally needed to hire guards to accompany them. Some powerful players would often take on such guard missions, as they were very profitable, several times more rewarding than high-level tasks, but they took a lot of time.

More than ten minutes later, Aqua Rose found a trade caravan that was about to depart.

This trade caravan didn't have many carts, only a dozen or so, and they were all player-run, making them much less safe than NPC-run caravans.

Outside the city, all sorts of troubles could be encountered, such as monster attacks or player bandits. The worst experience Shi Feng had was being robbed by a Tier 4 Sword Emperor NPC, which was much more intimidating than player bandits.

NPC-run caravans usually had some NPC guards, and ordinary players wouldn't dare to rob them. The biggest danger came from wild monsters, but player-run caravans were different. There were always players who had joined the dark forces who would have ideas.

Of course, risk and opportunity coexist. If player carts joined an NPC-run caravan, their profits would be greatly reduced, earning at most one-third of what they would earn in a player-run caravan. Of course, this was already a lot for ordinary players.

In other words, player-run caravans had three times the profit of NPC caravans, so naturally, some bold and strong players dared to take the risk.

"Our Red Rain Caravan isn't one of those weak caravans. We don't want those who are too weak, let alone if you're only going to the Soria Great Forest. That would take up our guard quota," said a female ranger with shoulder-length hair, wearing a black and red tight-fitting leather suit, her enchanting appearance carrying a hint of coquettishness, shaking her head.