Chapter 1248 - Shop Expansion
Chapter 1248 – Shop Expansion
“The Stormwind Emblems?” Silent Entropy frowned. He then asked, “Shephard, how many emblems do we have right now?”
Town emblems were extremely rare. Although they could not be used to take full control of a town, they did make it easier for players to pick up quests and develop in the area.
With Stormwind Shelter being a high-resource map, the Stormwind Emblem’s value went without saying. It could even rival an Epic item.
“Two,” the Oracle named Shepard answered softly.
“Only two? Why do we have so few?” Silent Entropy could not help but grow curious. “Haven’t we been exploring Stormwind Shelter?”
Normally, when they explored a new map, they easily obtained eight or nine town emblems, even more if they were lucky. The First Fleet had put everything they had into exploring the area. It was inconceivable that they had only obtained two Stormwind Emblems so far.
“Commander, Stormwind Shelter is different. In other maps, the first kill of Boss-grade sea monsters has a higher chance of dropping town emblems, but the Bosses in Stormwind Shelter have an extremely low drop-rate. Thus far, we’ve obtained the First Kill of more than 20 Field Bosses. We have also been farming the map’s monsters. Even then, we have only obtained two emblems so far.”
“The drop-rate is that low?” Silent Entropy was surprised when he heard Shepard’s explanation. “It seems the Stormwind Emblem is worth quite a lot. However, if we don’t hand them over to Passing Monarch, he will leverage the Alliance’s rules against us. Let’s do this, then. Give him one of the emblems. While you’re at it, tell him about the low drop-rate, lest he comes looking for trouble.”
“Understood.” Shepard bowed before leaving.
Meanwhile, as the various fleets conducted the handover process for their respective leveling spots, Shi Feng, sitting quietly in a corner, received a message from Melancholic Smile.
The contents were very simple. At this point, the Secret Pavilion had handed over the 20 plots of Land they had previously agreed upon, and they could reconstruct the buildings on these Lands into the Candlelight Trading Firm’s Shops and begin purchasing Diamond Wood. The only thing holding them back was the lack of reconstruction funds.
As they intended to purchase and stockpile Diamond Wood, they needed a very large warehouse to store it. Hence, they needed to construct the best Shop available. Calculating conservatively, they would need to spend 1,000 Gold on each plot of Land; 20,000 Gold in total.
Even Shi Feng couldn’t collect that much money at a moment’s notice.
After paying Sherlyn the 5,000-Gold inquiry fee, he had a little over 10,000 Gold left on him. After receiving a portion of White River City’s teleportation house profits, he now had 12,114 Gold in total. Even if he emptied his wallet, he would not have enough to reconstruct the Shops, much less purchase Diamond Wood in bulk.
Most importantly, he had already signed a contract with Passing Monarch. As long as the latter gave him the Stormwind Emblem, he would pay 10,000 Gold. Once this sum was paid, he would only have around 2,000 Gold left…
Considering his financial status, Shi Feng’s stomach cramped.
Passing Monarch approached quietly, excitement and joy plastered across his face.
“Brother Ye Feng, here is the Stormwind Emblem you requested. Don’t lose it. For some reason, the emblem’s drop rate in Stormwind Shelter is extremely low. I only have one. Replacing this will be very difficult,” Passing Monarch warned his companion softly. He then traded the Stormwind Emblem to Shi Feng.
–
[Stormwind Emblem]
Once equipped, player will enjoy advanced authority in Stormwind Town.
–
“I’ll be careful.” Shi Feng nodded as he stored the emblem.
The Stormwind Emblem’s rarity didn’t surprise him in the least. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have offered to buy it for 10,000 Gold.
In the past, many people had offered to purchase the Stormwind Emblem, and their starting bids were usually above 20,000. The emblem was far more valuable than Epic items. However, even at that price, players rarely sold their emblems due to the abysmal drop-rate. Aside from the higher drop-rate for a first kill, subsequent Field Boss kills had a drop-rate of roughly 0.1%. On average, the map only produced one Stormwind Emblem per month.
As a result, Lifestyle players had no choice but to invest a large amount of time, slowly raising their Reputation and authority in Stormwind Town.
Currently, Stormwind Shelter was still in its exploration period as it was a large Level 40 to 65 map. This increased the Stormwind Emblem’s value further. After all, the sooner one obtained the Stormwind Emblem, the sooner they could truly garrison themselves in Stormwind Town.
If Shi Feng headed out to farm the Stormwind Emblem himself, even if he relied on Divine Providence, he would likely need to spend two or three days grinding. This was the best-case scenario. At this point, the various naval powers had likely monopolized the majority of Stormwind Shelter’s Field Bosses. He would be lucky if he even got his hands on a handful of Bosses. If that were the case, he would have to waste even more time grinding in Stormwind Shelter.
Hence, the 10,000 Gold he spent to obtain the Stormwind Emblem was a worthwhile expenditure.
Following which, Shi Feng handed over the remaining 9,500 Gold to Passing Monarch, completing the contract between them.
After receiving the Coins, Passing Monarch sincerely offered, “Brother Ye Feng, why don’t you join us in the grind in Stormwind Shelter? I’ve recently received some information on the map from Silent Entropy. We’ll split the loot from the Bosses we kill. You’ll also have priority over Swordsman equipment. How about it?”
Hearing this, Blue Joy, who stood beside Passing Monarch, gaped in shock.
She had never expected Passing Monarch to extend such generosity to Shi Feng. Normally, the most he offered peak experts in Sea’s End was first pick of one weapon or piece of equipment, yet he had just offered to split the loot equally. Moreover, he intended to give Shi Feng first pick! If news of this spread, it would shock every player in Sea’s End.
However, after considering it for a moment, Blue Joy wasn’t terribly surprised. Passing Monarch wouldn’t be so generous to just any peak expert. Shi Feng was an exception simply because they had already witnessed his strength. With Shi Feng’s aid, they could take on even more powerful Bosses. Although they would only be obtaining half of theses Bosses’ loot, their harvest would likely be more abundant than monopolizing the weaker Bosses’ loot.
“Thanks for the offer, but I still have many matters to attend to,” Shi Feng rejected the kind offer. “We’ll raid Bosses together if there is another chance in the future.”
While killing powerful Boss-grade sea monsters was very profitable, he was the leader of a Guild. There were many matters that required his attention.
If a Guild wished to grow powerful, it needed to be managed carefully. Zero Wing would not grow stronger if he neglected his responsibilities as the Guild Leader. If something like that were possible, so many Guilds wouldn’t vanish each day.
Blue Joy was slightly disappointed by the Swordsman’s response.
However, she knew it was reasonable. Shi Feng was both a powerful expert and a member of Zero Wing. How could he possibly spare the time to level with them?
“What a pity. Until next time, then. During the next contest for the seating positions, we’ll have to trouble you again,” Passing Monarch said, sighing.
Following which, Shi Feng said his goodbyes to Passing Monarch and the others before leaving the Blue Jade Restaurant and hurrying to Stormwind Shelter.
As soon as Shi Feng left the restaurant, Scorpion, who had hidden in the alleyway beside the building, followed after him.
“Uncle Li, the target has left Blue Jade Restaurant. By the looks of it, he seems to be heading to the Teleportation Hall to leave Blue Jade City,” Scorpion reported as he followed Shi Feng.
“What a busy man. Follow him. The moment he steps out of an NPC city will be the moment he loses his life,” Uncle Li said, chuckling.
It was unwise to attack another player in an NPC city. Although the security in Sea’s End’s NPC cities was not as strict as the cities on land, it could not be underestimated. Against an expert like Shi Feng, in particular, they needed a more suitable environment.
“Understood!”
Scorpion then quickly followed Shi Feng into the Teleportation Hall.