C.3536 - 610 – Promotion

Chapter 610 – Promotion

Zero Wing Training Center, Guild Leader’s Office:

“Guild Leader, the fifteen cities’ representatives have contacted me hoping to resolve the misunderstanding this time. They say they’re willing to compensate us for our troubles,” Hidden Soul said disgruntledly as she handed a list of reparations to Shi Feng. “These people are utterly shameless. Do they take us for pushovers? Calling all this as a misunderstanding…”

If not for Zero Wing turning the tables with its Intermediate Divine Engravings and Mana Purification Techniques, the consequences of this city battle would have been catastrophic for Zero Wing and Star Lake City.

“Don’t take it too seriously. After all, Xiao Quan has gone to great lengths this time. If the fifteen cities could get into the good graces of Silver Frost City, it would increase the overall strength of their city legions considerably,” Shi Feng said before turning his focus toward the list he received. A moment later, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow in surprise, saying, “How generous of these cities. Are they actually willing to part with so many resources?”

Each of the fifteen cities wasoffered to compensate Zero Wing with ten to twenty drops of Stardew in addition to several thousand bottles of Life Potions. For the average third-tier city, these resources should amount to close to half of their available stockpiles. The fifteen cities would definitely have their development hampered after such a significant loss, and it would take them a minimum of two years to recover.

“It is indeed quite a lot.” Hidden Soul nodded in agreement. “The total comes to 206 drops of Stardew and 50,000 bottles of Life Potions. Should we accept them?”

“Of course!” Shi Feng answered without hesitation. Then, smiling, he continued, “Zero Wing is in desperate need of resources right now. The situation is so bad that we can’t even afford to recruit more internal members. But if we have this batch of resources, Zero Wing will be able to quickly grow into a Class 2 Guild. We’ll also have an easier time recruiting the Eternal Realm’s fifth-floor experts and convincing them to settle down with Zero Wing.”

The benefits of Life Potions need not be mentioned. Life Potions were a resource that all powers in the Greater World needed to supply to their geniuses. Each developing genius would have to be allocated at least one bottle per year and up to five bottles per year, depending on their talent. The various powers also had to maintain a supply of Life Potions that their members could exchange for Guild Contribution Points.

If the various powers couldn’t fulfill these two requirements, no genius or paragon would choose to join them. After all, mental strength was the basis of success in the Greater World.

Previously, Zero Wing didn’t have many members in the Greater World, so Shi Feng could more or less cover Zero Wing’s Life Potion requirements by himself. However, once the number of geniuses Zero Wing needed to nurture reached the hundreds or thousands, he could no longer rely on himself.

Hence, it was imperative Zero Wing accepted the fifteen cities’ compensation. With such a large batch of Life Potions, he might even be able to nurture some of Zero Wing’s members in the Miniature Ancient World.

Currently, the World Passage had already opened to a significant extent. In response, the Green God Corporation had eased the conditions for people of their homeworld to enter the Greater World. Now, anyone who was a mental strength master could enter the Greater World.

With the Life Potion’s effects, he could bring more of Zero Wing’s members over to the Greater World before the World Passage fully opened, letting them settle down in the Greater World’s various cities ahead of others.

As for Stardew, its effects were even more extraordinary.

For example, even though it hadn’t been long since Shi Feng became a one-star grandmaster, after consuming just one of the ten drops of Stardew, which he had previously acquired from Billowing Water, his mental strength was now close to reaching the two-star grandmaster standard.

Aside from Shi Feng, Gentle Snow and Hidden Soul had also consumed one drop each, and they could propel their mental strength to the peak of the three-star master standard. Now, they were only half a step away from becoming one-star grandmasters, and it should take no more than one more drop of Stardew for them to cross the final hurdle. Once both became one-star grandmasters, Zero Wing would be one step closer to becoming a Class 2 Guild.

In the Greater World, a Guild needed to achieve Class 2 status if it wanted to have anything to do with second-tier cities. If a Guild did not meet the God’s Domain Association’s requirements to become a Class 2 Guild, it would be forbidden to set up a base and recruit members on a large scale in a second-tier city.

Hence, whether it was for personal growth or the growth of Zero Wing, Stardew was of extraordinary value. If it was before today, Shi Feng would have never thought Zero Wing could get its hands on over 200 drops of Stardew so soon.

“I understand.” Hidden Soul nodded, finding Shi Feng’s words reasonable. “I’ll negotiate more with them and try to have them cough up some more Stardew.”

“I’ll leave it to you,” Shi Feng said, chuckling when he saw the eager look on Hidden Soul’s face. Of course, her excitement was understandable.

Hidden Soul had benefited significantly from the drop of Stardew she consumed. Aside from the growth in her mental strength, her Concentration in God’s Domain had also been elevated by one rank. Now, it was already at the Tier 6 Basic standard, and she could start attempting to create her Tier 6 Divine Body.

If Hidden Soul could consume more Stardew and push her Concentration to the Tier 6 Intermediate standard, paired with the Advanced Bronze Mana Purification Technique’s effects, getting promoted to Tier 6 would be a piece of cake. At that time, the only concern she would have would be the quality of the Divine Body she could construct.

“Oh, right, I nearly forgot. Here’s a compilation of the city contribution we earned. It also lists the bonus from City Lord Feng,” Hidden Soul said as she took out another list and handed it to Shi Feng. “Commander Frost says that it was quite difficult to calculate Zero Wing’s contribution because we won fifteen power furnaces this time. But considering Zero Wing’s contribution, the city will reward each of Zero Wing’s participating members with 10 million points and an additional 300 million to Zero Wing.”

“They’re giving us an extra 300 million?” Shi Feng couldn’t help but be surprised when he saw the list of reward allocations.

Previously, when he helped Star Lake City achieve an overwhelming victory against Riverlight City in the Tier 4 match, he had only received several million contribution points for his efforts. Not to mention, that was when Star Lake City was still a third-tier city. Now that Star Lake City was a second-tier city, its contribution points would become even more valuable. So, by logic, even if Zero Wing had contributed massively to the city battle, the rewards should still more or less be toned down.

Yet, on top of awarding each of Zero Wing’s participating members 10 million points, Star Lake City had separately awarded Zero Wing 300 million points. If it were in any other second-tier city, Zero Wing would have needed several years, or possibly more than a decade, to earn so many contribution points. Such a lucrative reward could make even upper-ranking hegemonic powers jealous.

“City Lord Feng is the truly generous one. He has permanently assigned an entire street in the city center to Zero Wing. As soon as Zero Wing becomes a Class 2 Guild, we can immediately register the street under Zero Wing’s name with the God’s Domain Association,” Hidden Soul said as she handed a deed to Shi Feng. “I’ve already looked up the street’s details. Going by the God’s Domain Association’s regulations, we can settle up to 10,000 members there. With this, we can freely recruit members without worrying about residential slots.”

“It seems we’ll have to turn Zero Wing into a Class 2 Guild as soon as possible,” Shi Feng stated as he looked at the deed passionately.

Normally, even after a Class 2 Guild rented a large guild building in a second-tier city, it would only receive 1,000 residential slots for its members. Moreover, it would also have to spend large sums of contribution points each year to ensure it didn’t get outbid by other Guilds over the property.

However, it was a different story if a Guild was gifted a parcel of land by the City Lord. The Guild would not have to worry about competing with other powers over the property, nor would it have to pay exorbitant annual fees to the city.

Only, very few City Lords would ever grant parts of their city to outsiders.

After all, per the God’s Domain Association’s regulations, each City Lord would only have the privilege of gifting up to two plots of land during their term. Normally, City Lords would exercise this privilege for themselves, using one of the properties to nurture their own family and the other property to nurture their own powers. So, the fact that City Lord Feng was willing to give one of these two properties to Zero Wing showed how generous he was.

…

Half a day later, a gigantic semi-translucent screen appeared above Star Lake City. Immediately afterward, an emergency announcement echoed throughout the entire city.

“Notice to all of Star Lake City’s residents! Star Lake City has successfully equipped twenty power furnaces! As per the God’s Domain Association’s regulations and witness, Star Lake City will immediately be promoted into a second-tier mobile city once all twenty power furnaces are activated! All of Star Lake City’s residents will also be promoted to second-tier city residents!

“All power furnaces will be activated in ten… seven… three… one…”