Chapter 915 - Difference in Mounts
Mounts’ importance to players went without saying.
Even Melancholic Smile and Cream Cocoa understood the importance of any Mount, not to mention Bronze Mounts. Currently, God’s Domain’s elite and expert players moved ever closer to Level 40.
However, how could Common Mounts possibly satisfy these experts? Unfortunately, obtaining a Bronze Mount was easier said than done. Even large Guilds could only get their hands on a few, and these Mounts were usually reserved for the Guild’s upper echelons. The other members could only dream of riding one.
If it were truly possible to produce Bronze Mounts, they would sell tens of times better than the Strengthening Device.
However, the Engineering Locomotive was extremely difficult to manufacture.
At the very minimum, they needed an Advanced Engineer, an Advanced Forger, and an Advanced Alchemist to have any possibility of success. Even if they were equipped with a variety of support tools, they’d be lucky if they had even a 30% success rate of producing the Locomotive.
In addition, manufacturing the Engineering Locomotive was a tedious process. It would take a very long time just to produce one. Producing one per day would be an impressive feat.
“Guild Leader, this Engineering Locomotive is too difficult to manufacture. It also requires so many materials. Even if we successfully produce one, the cost will be astounding. Are we really going to make this, regardless of the cost?” Melancholic Smile’s lips twitched slightly as she read the listed materials recorded on the design.
The hardest part of crafting the Engineering Locomotive would be the power unit. The power unit alone required 30 Magic Crystals. Other components, such as alchemy arrays, also required Magic Crystals. After taking all of the miscellaneous components into account, they needed a total of 50 Magic Crystals to produce one Engineering Locomotive. In addition, the Mount’s manufacturing required certain rare materials such as Fine Steel Ingots. A Fine Steel Ingot was the product of refining Fine Iron with other materials, and one only had a chance of obtaining Fine Iron from mining Hematite Ore.
On the market, a Refined Steel Ingot cost around 30 Silver. That was practically the equivalent of a piece of Level 30 Bronze Equipment. However, there were fewer Refined Steel Ingots available on the market than Level 30 Bronze Equipment.
Meanwhile, the Engineering Locomotive required 20 Refined Iron Ingots—a total cost of 6 Gold!
Based on market value, producing a single Bronze Engineering Locomotive cost roughly 25 Gold. In reality, though, as most of the materials could be sourced from their Guild, they wouldn’t have to spend that much. Even so, the final cost would still be around 20 Gold…
Based on their current success rate, it could cost anywhere from 100 Gold to 160 Gold to craft one Engineering Locomotive. Meanwhile, a single Bronze Mount currently sold for around 300 Gold. It was not nearly as profitable as the Strengthening Devices. The only advantage the Engineering Locomotive had was its demand. If they offered the Mounts for sale, someone would buy them if the price were reasonable.
If they wished to save more money, they would need the help of a Master Engineer.
Although there was only a single rank difference between an Advanced Engineer and a Master Engineer, the latter could increase the success rate of producing the Engineering Locomotive by around 30%. After including the bonuses from various tools, they could achieve a success rate of 60% or higher. With such a high success rate, they could reduce their total cost to 40 Gold or lower. They could also produce the Mounts much faster.
“How many Advanced Engineers do we have right now?” Shi Feng realized how high the production cost was. However, he had already signed an agreement with the Secret Pavilion. They had to manufacture the Engineering Locomotives regardless of the cost. Moreover, producing the Engineering Locomotive would allow Lifestyle classes to rapidly gain Proficiency.
“We only have two people at the moment. There are three others who are close to reaching the Advanced Engineer rank,” Melancholic Smile replied.
“Two?” Shi Feng frowned. Based on their current manufacturing speed, producing ten Engineering Locomotives in five days would be cutting it very close. “Have them begin the process. I’ll help to produce some of the components as well.”
“I’ll contact them right away,” Melancholic Smile said. She was momentarily stunned when she heard that Shi Feng would also take part. Hurriedly, she continued, “If they find out that our Guild Leader will be leading this project, they will die from excitement.”
In Star-Moon Kingdom, the majority of players addressed Black Flame by his title as the Sword King. Most had probably forgotten Black Flame’s past identity.
However, while ordinary players had forgotten his past fame, to Lifestyle players, the title of Star-Moon Kingdom’s Chief Forger still resounded in their ears.
Moreover, Melancholic Smile understood one thing very clearly; Shi Feng had been the first to become an Advanced Forger.
Suddenly, Aqua Rose contacted Shi Feng and said, “Guild Leader, two people have entered our Guild Residence. Both are Level 40 players. Moreover, their Mounts are high quality. They are saying that they have something very important to talk to you about.”
“Two people with high-ranking Mounts?” Shi Feng was slightly surprised. Reaching Level 40 was still very difficult at this stage of the game, much less obtaining high-ranking Mounts. “Do you know their identities?”
“I’ve never met either of them. Moreover, they aren’t wearing a Guild Emblem. Although, it is possible that they purposely removed it,” Aqua Rose said as she shook her head. She had seen most of God’s Domain’s mainstream experts at least once. However, she had zero recollection of the two people that had arrived. Even after sending her subordinates to investigate, she had not obtained any information on these players.
“This is interesting. Alright, I’ll head over right away.” Shi Feng could not help his curiosity. After disconnecting the call, he rode the Demonic Flame Tiger back to Zero Wing’s Residence.
—
In front of Zero Wing’s Residence:
As Zero Wing had announced another mass-recruitment, players crowded around the Guild’s Residence. However, there was a clearing within the crowd where players had given two people a wide berth. Two massive Mounts rested beside these players. Nobody dared to approach either of them.
“Who are these people? They look so strong!”
“They aren’t here to cause trouble, right?!”
When the players who had come to apply to Zero Wing saw the Berserker Bloodsucker and the Assassin Kirin, they were shocked by the two’s auras and equipment.
“The advanced horse carriage is so slow! When will Masked and the others get here?” Kirin exclaimed as he looked at the time, paying no attention to the surrounding crowd.
As soon as Kirin finished speaking, an advanced horse carriage approached from one end of the street.
A moment later, the advanced horse carriage stopped before Zero Wing’s Residence, and four people stepped out.
“Mysterious-Iron Mounts are wonderful. Once I reach Level 40, I will have to find one of my own.”
“Masked, don’t even think about obtaining a Mysterious-Iron Mount. They aren’t weeds that sprout up everywhere. Even those with titles in the Guild are struggling to get their hands on one, let alone someone like you.”
The four people that had emerged from the carriage chatted merrily amongst themselves. However, when the crowd saw these four newcomers, they were flabbergasted. All four were Level 39. Although the pressure these four people gave off was not as strong as the two that had already arrived, when these four players stood together, they felt like four ferocious beasts. A single glance from them was enough to give one shivers.
“This is Zero Wing’s Residence? It’s quite big, but it’s rather shabby. The standard of the Guild members isn’t much to look at, either.” Masked Angel gave a rough evaluation after a cursory examination of Zero Wing’s Residence.
The other three agreed with Masked Angel.
However, the Zero Wing members coming and going were somewhat annoyed when they heard the comment.
Zero Wing’s Residence had cost a lot of Gold to build. Even if it did not rank number one in Star-Moon Kingdom, it ranked near the top. However, these people spoke as if their Residence belonged in the Slums.
These Zero Wing members had intended to argue with these people. However, when they saw a black figure appear at the entrance, they immediately fell silent. Even the independent players lining up outside the Residence stared at this figure with admiration.
Although the giant, snow-white wolf and pitch-black warhorse in front of the entrance were quite attractive, they were on an entirely different level from the Demonic Flame Tiger that had appeared like lightning. In front of the Demonic Flame Tiger, the wolf and warhorse were practically newborns…