Chapter 2302 - Renting Shops
Gravity Mountain Range, Northern Fortress:
As soon as Shi Feng came online, he was greeted by the sight of a very busy street. As he walked through the city streets, he saw large groups of Guild players running toward the fortress’s hotels, reserving all of the rooms and turning them into temporary residences for their Guilds. At this point, the Northern Fortress was just as prosperous as an ordinary city.
Shi Feng could already tell that the Northern Fortress would become the center of attention in the Gravity Mountain Range.
Meanwhile, independent players crowded outside of Zero Wing’s residence, eager to apply to join the Guild. They all wanted to take advantage of the benefits the Guild’s Residence offered, and because of this, Blackie and the others were swamped with work.
“Guild Leader, you’re back.” When Aqua Rose, who was busy organizing documents in the Guild Leader’s office, noticed Shi Feng enter the room, she worriedly asked, “How did the matter with the Fang Family go?”
Although she wasn’t in Fenglin City, she was aware of the Fang Family’s position there. Zero Wing had just established itself in Fenglin City, and if the Fang Family decided to target the Guild, it would affect Zero Wing’s in-game development and in the real world, especially now that the various Guilds understood the importance of dojos and training centers.
Many large Guilds in God’s Domain had already partnered with dojos and training centers by this point, with some Guilds even opening their own. With a dojo or training center, not only could they nurture their own talented individuals, but they could also recruit new players to bolster their strength.
With the country’s various training centers and dojos allying themselves with God’s Domain’s large Guilds, Zero Wing would have a difficult time establishing itself in new cities. Hence, Zero Wing would have to rely on the Heaven’s Rumble Training Center in Fenglin City to pump new blood into the Guild.
“Everything’s fine. Negotiations to purchase Zero Wing simply broke down,” Shi Feng said, waving his hand.
“Isn’t that really bad?!” Shi Feng’s nonchalant attitude exasperated Aqua Rose. “The Fang Family owns the Qilin Corporation and is based in Fenglin City. The Fang Family won’t have any trouble targeting us. All it would need to do is contact Fenglin City’s dojos and training centers and instruct them to compete with our prices. If that happens, nobody will visit the Heaven’s Rumble Training Center.”
The Heaven’s Rumble Training Center was Zero Wing’s main source of new, talented players right now. If nobody visited the training center, Zero Wing wouldn’t have anyone new to recruit. Moreover, the Fang Family could easily afford to poach Heaven’s Rumble’s new members by offering them a high pay-out.
Not only would the Fang Family cut off Zero Wing’s supply of new blood, but the Heaven’s Rumble would become a burden on Zero Wing’s finances, as well. Keeping the training center open every day cost a huge sum of money.
“Relax. Zero Wing isn’t the same Guild it used to be. The Fang Family overestimates itself if it thinks it can annex us,” Shi Feng said, chuckling. “How is the construction for the fortress’s Shops coming along?”
They’re done, but if we only rent the Shops, we won’t be able to earn much. As a Medium Fortress, the Northern Fortress can only accommodate so many players at once,” Aqua Rose reported. “Very few powers visiting the fortress have expressed any interest in the Shops. Most people are asking to rent the hotels long-term, instead.”
The various major powers were typically quite interested in obtaining Shops, but only if there was enough traffic. It would likely be quite difficult to rent the fortress’s Shops for a high price with the Northern Fortress’s maximum player population. Furthermore, the number of Shops in the fortress couldn’t compare to those in a Guild City.
Based on God’s Domain’s settings, fortresses could only house a limited number of Shops. A Small Fortress only had room for 100 Sops, while a Medium Fortress could contain 240 Shops. In comparison, a Basic City could easily hold more than 1,000 Shops.
“As long as they’re done, I’m satisfied,” Shi Feng said, chuckling. “See to the necessary preparations and announce that the Northern Fortress will begin to lease its Shops. The bid for each Shop will start at 5,000,000 Credits per month, and we’ll only lease 200 Shops in total. First come, first served.”
“Guild Leader, you….” Aqua Rose stared at Shi Feng as if he had gone mad.
If they couldn’t even lease Zero Wing City’s Shops for 5,000,000 Credit per month, how were they supposed to rent those in the Northern Fortress, which had less than 500,000 players right now? And Shi Feng’s high price was only the starting bid…
“Just get it done. When the time comes, you’ll understand,” Shi Feng said, not bothering to explain further.
Fortresses in neutral maps were far more profitable than Guild Cities in God’s Domain. Guild Towns and Cities couldn’t be constructed in many neutral maps due to their environments, and players would have to rely on fortresses to rest.
Most of God’s Domain’s players were also independent players, and when they obtained items they didn’t need, they almost always sold them in their favored rest areas. Naturally, Shops were the best platform for Guilds to purchase and store these items, especially the items that couldn’t be stored in one’s bag space.
Aside from purchasing and storing materials and items, neutral fortress’s Shops had a hidden benefit; they could conduct transactions with wandering merchant NPCs and purchase specialty items. Wandering merchants would visit a neutral fortress as long as it had enough security, and these NPCs frequent conducted business with individual players and Shops. However, wandering merchants would only offer to sell their specialty items to Shops.
One such specialty item was the Advanced Wanderer’s Camp. With this item, a team could set up a temporary resting area in a neutral map. Although each Advanced Wanderer’s Camp could only be used three times, and each use had a one-day duration, it would help a team fully recover their Stamina and Concentration without cutting their exploration short to return to a city or fortress. The Advanced Wanderer’s Camp was an absolute treasure to exploration teams.
Sometimes, if players were luc々，they would even encounter wandering merchants that were interested in selling super-rare Mini Mobile Camp. Unlike the Advanced Wanderer’s Camp, the Mini Mobile Camp was permanent. It could only accommodate 100 players at a time, but a team could use it indefinitely. It only cost a few Magic Crystals for each activation.
The smallest fortress wandering merchant NPCs would visit was a Medium Fortress, which was why the various powers had fought so desperately to capture neutral Medium Fortresses and larger during Shi Feng’s previous life. Every neutral Medium Fortress was a goldmine and definitely worth waging a war to acquire.
To increase their chances of developing in neutral maps, the various powers wouldn’t spare any cost when renting a fortress’s Shops.
As long as one owned a Medium Fortress or larger in a neutral map, they wouldn’t have to worry about needing a source of income, especially if that fortress was the Northern Fortress. Currently, it was the only fortress in the Gravity Mountain Range that had Return Scrolls, and there were plenty of unexplored ruins in the Gravity Mountain Range.
Zero Wing wouldn’t need to worry about no one renting the fortress’s Shops.
After verifying Shi Feng’s instructions, Aqua Rose informed the public that the Northern Fortress’s Shops were available for rent.