C.3422 - – Astonishing Transformation

Chapter 496 – Astonishing Transformation

TL Notes:

Changing “Transportation Firm” to “Trading Firm.”

…

Underground Crystal Palace, entrance plaza:

Clad in white holy armor and carrying two greatswords, Gentle Snow stood amidst the crowd in the plaza while faint magic patterns circled her body. At first glance, Shi Feng nearly failed to recognize her.

Compared to when Gentle Snow participated in the city battle, the current Gentle Snow had undergone a massive transformation in terms of levels and combat standards.

During the city battle, Gentle Snow only managed to match titled experts of the same tier by relying on her Void Saint Legacy.

But now, Gentle Snow was not only a Level 152, Tier 5 Void Saint, but she had also developed her combat standard to the peak of the fourth-floor standard. One could say that she was already a pseudo-fifth-floor expert. So long as she could elevate her control over her body to the Extrasensory Realm, she would become a true fifth-floor expert.

“Guild Leader?” Gentle Snow also quickly noticed Shi Feng.

As soon as Gentle Snow spoke, the noblewoman standing next to her turned to look at Shi Feng with a curious gaze. The noblewoman appeared to be on the same team as Gentle Snow, and she wore a set of light blue armor while carrying a silver spear and a shield on her back.

“Snow, do you know that person?” the noblewoman asked Gentle Snow after seeing that Shi Feng was only a Level 145 player. This was a very low level in the Crystal City of Secrets, and it wasn’t even comparable to the levels of fourth-floor experts.

“He’s Guild Leader Black Flame, the leader of my Guild, Big Sis Qilin,” Gentle Snow introduced.

“Black Flame?” The noblewoman named Ink Qilin seemed to recall something when she heard Gentle Snow’s introduction. “The Luminous Glory List’s Asura Sword Emperor?”

“Yes.” Gentle Snow nodded. Then, she suggested, “Big Sis Qilin, our team is currently short of members. Why don’t we form a team together and explore the Underground Crystal Palace?”

Hearing this, Ink Qilin took a glance at Shi Feng and his party and pondered for a moment before saying, “They are sufficiently strong, but their levels are a little low. You can invite them, but make sure you let them know that the Scarecrow Fox adventurer team always allocates loot based on the system’s evaluation of individual contributions to the team. If they have no problem with that, we can explore the Underground Crystal Palace together.”

After Ink Qilin finished speaking, a middle-aged male elven Cleric on the same team shook his head and said, “Snow, do you really want to invite your Guild Leader? Scarecrow Fox isn’t your average adventure team. We are a prominent force throughout the Greater God’s Domain. Your strength has also improved significantly during the time you have been with us, and your weapons and equipment are leagues better than what you had before.

“While I don’t know how your Guild Leader got here, as a bottom-ranked Luminous Glory expert with such a low level, he’s going to have a hard time keeping up with our pace.”

Gentle Snow grew a little hesitant when she heard this.

Throughout this period, Gentle Snow came across extraordinary opportunities and made significant leaps in strength. She had also replaced all of her weapons and equipment with significantly better ones. Ink Qilin, a vice commander of the Scarecrow Fox adventurer team, had even given her the Frost Thunder Dual Blades, which were a set of Legendary Greatswords. Even then, she was just barely able to keep up with Scarecrow Fox’s members and achieve somewhat noticeable contributions.

If Shi Feng’s party couldn’t contribute sufficiently to the team, not only would they be wasting their time, but they would also be wasting the expensive entrance fee.

Even for Level 145 players, it cost 20 Eternal Silver and 50 units of Seven Luminaries Crystal per person to enter the Underground Crystal Palace. As for players between levels 150 and 159, the entrance fee was even higher, costing 50 Eternal Silver and 100 units of Seven Luminaries Crystal per person.

Currently, the average titled expert operating in the Crystal City of Secrets would be fortunate to even have 10 Eternal Silver in their possession, while the average fifth-floor expert would only have around 20 Eternal Silver. Hence, the Underground Crystal Palace’s entrance fee was a considerable expense for most players.

As for Gentle Snow, she was only able to have a little over 90 Eternal Silver in her possession, thanks to Scarecrow Fox’s team. If not for the team, she would have never been able to afford to enter the Underground Crystal Palace.

However, after some hesitation, Gentle Snow still decided to invite Shi Feng’s party to the team.

Although Scarecrow Fox was only an adventure team with few members operating in the Eternal Realm, it was a force to be reckoned with in the Greater God’s Domain. In fact, it was strong enough to compete with the various conglomerates.

𝐟𝓇𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝐛n𝐨ν𝙚𝚕. c𝚘ｍ

The Paimon Conglomerate was closely eyeing Zero Wing, even to this day. Although Zero Wing currently had Star Lake City’s protection, it wasn’t a long-term solution. However, if Zero Wing could earn Scarecrow Fox’s favor, it was possible the Paimon Conglomerate would back off a little out of wariness.

Meanwhile, after hearing about Gentle Snow’s suggestion, Shi Feng readily agreed to it.

He had heard about the Scarecrow Fox adventurer team in his previous life. The adventurer team’s members were incredibly strong, and its seven commanders were even existences capable of rivaling Tier 6 Gods. At its peak, it nearly reached the standard of pseudo-apex powers. If not for the fall of Spear Paradise, Scarecrow Fox’s Great Commander, the adventurer team might have had a real chance to become a pseudo-apex power.

Meanwhile, his goal was to obtain the Heroic Mark dropped by the Level 155 Floor Master. If the loot was distributed based on individual team contributions, it couldn’t get any better for him.

Subsequently, Shi Feng’s party of four merged with Scarecrow Fox’s team of twelve and joined the line to enter the Underground Crystal Palace.

While waiting in line, Shi Feng listened to Gentle Snow talk about her encounters in God’s Domain after the city battle, and he couldn’t help but be amazed.

Apparently, after being abruptly required to log into God’s Domain, Gentle Snow had also found herself appearing in a special location. It was also at that place where she came across the Scarecrow Fox adventurer team. Meanwhile, when she was in that place, she could not log out of the game, and even the flow of time there was completely different.

Even though only several days had passed since the city battle, Gentle Snow stated that she had spent over two months in that special location. During this time, she was promoted to Tier 5, and her combat standards also saw massive improvements. Meanwhile, it was only a day ago when she and Scarecrow Fox’s team had discovered a teleportation passage that led to the Crystal City of Secrets’ map.

“It’s only been several days since the city battle?” Gentle Snow couldn’t help but be in disbelief after hearing Shi Feng’s account of recent events.

In her experience, she had spent a long time in the God’s Domain, which was an extremely dangerous thing to do since she had logged into the game from a public location. If not for the system preventing her from logging out for another day, she would have gone offline as soon as she arrived in the Crystal City of Secrets.

“You don’t have to worry about safety for now. Star Lake City has arranged for security and protection. There is also an AI robot replenishing your gaming cabin’s nutrient solution. So, just wait until the system lets you log out safely,” Shi Feng said with a smile.

Shi Feng was already used to seeing certain spaces having different time flows. He was just surprised by how extraordinary Gentle Snow’s experiences were whenever she entered spaces with different time flows.

While Shi Feng and Gentle Snow were chatting, a commotion suddenly occurred in the plaza.

A short moment later, the thousands of teams in the plaza could be seen stepping aside for a 20-man team. Even the teams of upper-ranking hegemonic powers and conglomerates did not dare to stand in this 20-man team’s way, giving the team unhindered access to the Underground Crystal Palace.

“What’s the background of this team? Why are the various powers’ teams voluntarily making way for it?”

“Can’t you see the emblem on their chests? It’s the Scarlet Merchant Alliance, a pseudo-apex power!”

“The young man leading the team seems to be Abyss Water, a Vice Guild Leader of the Scarlet Merchant Alliance. Rumors say he could already use World Creation’s second form at Tier 4. Now that he’s at Tier 5, with how young he is, he can probably rival the apex power Demon’s Gate’s Starfall Witch.”

The crowd standing outside the plaza engaged in a heated discussion among themselves when they saw how the teams waiting in line behaved toward the Scarlet Merchant Alliance’s team. Meanwhile, amidst everyone’s discussion, the Scarlet Merchant Alliance’s team had already cut the line and arrived in front of Ink Qilin, who was first in line.

“The Scarlet Merchant Alliance is in a hurry, so get lost if you know what’s good for you!” a Level 151 Elder of the Scarlet Merchant Alliance yelled at Ink Qilin.