Chapter 2110 - Situation Changes
News that the Candlelight Trading Firm would sell Stamina Gemstones long-term spread throughout the Dark Night Empire like wildfire. Small Guilds and adventurer teams that hadn’t expressed any hope of obtaining Stamina Gemstones began to grow restless.
“Candlelight is selling Stamina Gemstones long-term?”
“This is interesting!”
“Our chance to grow stronger has finally come!”
Although the 60 Stamina Gemstones had been tempting, it simply wasn’t enough to go around.
There were already three superpowers in the Dark Night Empire, not to mention first-rate Guilds and top adventurer teams. There were also hidden dark forces. Small Guilds and low-ranked adventurer teams had no chance of securing Stamina Gemstones, and even if they won a bid, what could they possibly accomplish with only three gemstones?
However, Candlelight’s recent revelation had changed the situation.
If the Candlelight Trading Firm truly sold Stamina Gemstones long-term, they’d have a chance to purchase a good number for themselves. Candlelight was only accepting the Dark Night Empire’s specialty materials as currency, and even if the various superpowers had a large stock of these materials, there was a limit. As long as these minor powers saved their materials for some time, they could definitely win one or two bids every now and then. Once they had enough gemstones, they could make full use of them in neutral maps.
For a time, the Dark Night Empire’s various powers ordered their members to collect as many specialty materials as possible, prohibiting the items’ sales. They’d benefit more from spending the specialty materials on the Stamina Gemstones and exploring neutral maps than they would by selling them. Furthermore, other powers would overtake their progress if they didn’t secure Stamina Gemstones early on.
Meanwhile, due to the Candlelight Trading Firm’s removal from the Secret Chamber of Commerce, all previous agreements between the two had become null and void. As a result, the Chamber began to withdraw the manpower and items it had assigned to Zero Wing City in Star-Moon Kingdom.
While Yuan Tiexin arranged for his subordinates’ move out of their office, a heroic woman in gorgeous sacred armor approached him. She drew everyone’s gaze as she entered the office, mesmerizing many of the men.
“As expected of Goddess Purple Jade. She’s already Level 66. She can likely rank among the top 20 on any empire’s Ranking List.”
“I’ve heard that two days ago, her team completed an Epic Team Quest and slew a Level 60 Mythic ranked Ironblood Dragon, obtaining the Dragonblood Sword. That sword is so awesome. It’s even considered as one of the top-ten Epic Weapons in God’s Domain. Because of that sword, Purple Jade is now stronger than other peak experts, earning the position as one of God’s Domain’s Ten Great Swordsmen from the Secret Pavilion.”
As players spoke about the Ten Great Swordsmen, their admiration overwhelmed them.
The Ten Great Swordsmen was a list the Secret Pavilion had introduced to promote each class’s experts. All classes in God’s Domain were unique, and some were even the polar opposite of others, so battles between different classes couldn’t accurately determine the stronger expert. Hence, the Secret Pavilion had introduced new ranking lists for each of the twelve main classes. Each of the lists had only ten players, and they were judged solely based on their strength. Combat standards and battle records didn’t matter.
In addition, the aim of these twelve class list was to give the younger generation an opportunity to shine, so only players 30-years-old or younger could qualify for the ranking lists. Of course, this age limit also allowed the Secret Pavilion to avoid touching upon the various superpowers’ foundations. The various superpowers treated their old monsters as core secrets, and if the Secret Pavilion revealed these secrets to the public, the superpowers would band together against the organization.
When Purple Jade had obtained the Dragonblood Sword, not only had it earned her a position on the Swordsmen’s list, but she had also secured the eighth rank.
“Uncle Yuan, we’ve just received a message from the higher-ups. They’d like us to buy some Stamina Gemstones from Zero Wing; the more, the better,” Purple Jade said, smiling as she walked up to Yuan Tiexin.
“They’re so shameless. We just banished Zero Wing from the Secret Chamber of Commerce, yet they want me to negotiate with the Guild? Why don’t they speak with Zero Wing themselves?” Yuan Tiexin could not help his growing anger when he heard the relayed message.
The so-called “higher-ups” Purple Jade referred to were the Secret Chamber of Commerce’s advanced members. The Secret Pavilion had warned them not to casually annex the Chamber’s members, particularly Zero Wing due to the immense potential it had shown lately. However, the other five advanced members had ignored the Secret Pavilion’s warning and abandoned Zero Wing. Now that they had, they wanted him to place peacemaker.
“But Zero Wing is pretty amazing. It has revealed something as valuable as the Stamina Gemstones, and the five powers regret their actions. I’ve heard that they are busy exploring the recently-discovered Brute God’s Land and urgently need items that can increase players’ maximum Stamina or recover rate,” Purple Jade said, giggling. “They’re panicking now. They threw away their chance to purchase Stamina Gemstones just to show respect to Starlink and suppress Zero Wing. Now, they are all upset with Starlink.”
“However, Starlink has gotten serious this time. Not only has it increased the prices of Star-Moon Kingdom’s specialty materials, but it has also begun to sell similar merchandise to Candlelight’s at lower prices. Many players have already started shopping at the Starlink Trading Firm. No one is buying the Candlelight’s common products. I’m afraid Candlelight has lost two-thirds of its usual profits,” Yuan Tiexin said. “To make matters worse, the Ore Empire’s powers have been eyeing Zero Wing’s territory. In comparison, Starlink only has to worry about Zero Wing’s Stamina Gemstones.
“Although the Stamina Gemstones are valuable, Starlink isn’t a superpower for no reason. With three NPC Auction Houses and the Starline Corporation’s support, its financial prowess isn’t so easy to shake. Moreover, Starlink has control of a fortress in the Ancient Undead Country, the Dark Night Empire’s most important neutral map. It is simply too difficult for Zero Wing to impact Starlink’s finances negatively.”
The Ancient Undead Country was a new expansion pack that had triggered in the Dark Night Empire, and Starlink was responsible for triggering it. The Ancient Undead Country had once been a massive empire, but due to an ancient war, it had fallen into ruin. It was no exaggeration to say that the Ancient Undead Country was even richer than the Ore Empire in resources. Moreover, it housed the only known God Mode Regional Dungeon among the dozen or so neighboring kingdoms and empires.
Because of the power Starlink held in the Ancient Undead Country, even the various Super Guilds feared the superpower and had to pay it proper respect. God’s Domain’s Super Guilds didn’t just fear Starlink due to the Starline Corporation’s backing, and if that were the only strength the Guild had, the Secret Chamber of Commerce’s advanced members wouldn’t have allowed Starlink to join their ranks.
“Zero Wing is fully capable of returning to the Secret Chamber of Commerce with its Stamina Gemstones. The five other powers wouldn’t object. If Zero Wing regains access to our sales channels, it could certainly afford to continue its fight with Starlink while growing even stronger,” Purple Jade said, nodding. She, too, understood how powerful Starlink was, and the fact that Zero Wing had made the superpower suffer as much as it had already was impressive.
“Indeed.” Yuan Tiexin agreed with the young woman. Starlink would struggle to suppress Zero Wing financially if the smaller Guild returned to the Secret Chamber of Commerce. Following which, Yuan Tiexin contacted Shi Feng to report the good news.