Chapter 2024 - Golden Flow Town Falls
Witch’s Hill, Zero Wing City:
Due to Zero Wing’s successful capture of Wildhammer Town, merchant and independent players began to return to Zero Wing City. Players hawked their wares and recruited team members for grinding and questing across the city. Many were even Tier 2 experts. At this point, not even Star-Moon City or White River City could rival Zero Wing City’s prosperity.
Meanwhile, Star-Moon Kingdom’s various Guilds, both large and small, began to send teams to investigate Zero Wing within its city. This increased the traffic in the city’s bars and restaurants.
Several cloaked players stood on the street outside of one of Zero Wing City’s Advanced Bars, warily eyeing their surroundings. They only entered the bar after ensuring that they were safe.
Players crowded the bar, most wearing Black Cloaks.
If a player used a Skill that could see through a Black Cloak’s concealment, they’d discover that the cloaked players within weren’t independent players. Rather, they were from the kingdom’s various Guilds, and they were all impressively powerful, with the weakest being a Level 58, Tier 2 player.
To survive in God’s Domain, small Guilds generally formed secret alliances to withstand larger Guilds. These Guilds would exchange information to further their development, as well.
This Advanced Bar had become a hub for these Guild members to do just that.
Meanwhile, the new group of cloaked players quickly headed for a corner of the bar after entering, approaching a stone table with a single occupant.
After taking a seat, the Tier 2 female Elementalist that led the group looked at the Assassin with a tattoo on his face and asked, “How is your investigation going? Have you learned how Zero Wing captured Wildhammer Town yet?”
Unlike the majority of the players in the bar, this Assassin did not bother to hide his identity, boldly revealing his status as an independent player. However, despite doing so, none of the Guild players present dared to look down on him. This independent player was the host of this information center, the middle man for the information gatherers and buyers. He specialized in information on Zero Wing, in particular.
The various Guild players acknowledged this Assassin as a middle man because he was also a player from Green Eye, a top adventurer team in God’s Domain.
Unlike other adventurer teams, Green Eye focused on information gathering. Not only were its members skilled in combat, but they also possessed plenty of connections. The information they sold was always legitimate, so the various Guilds trusted the team’s members.
Of course, as Green Eye’s manpower was limited, it didn’t collect information on every Guild. It generally focused on first- rate or stronger Guilds. Second-rate Guilds and below didn’t qualify for its attention.
“We have, but we will only accept Coins or Magic Crystals as payment. We’ll give you a 10% discount if you pay with Magic Crystals,” the Tier 2 Assassin said, sipping from the cup of wine he held as he eyed the female Elementalist before him.
“How much?” she asked.
The Green Eye adventurer team usually accepted Credits for its information, but since this information was particularly valuable, it would only accept Coins or Magic Crystals this time.
In God’s Domain, accomplishing anything required strength. Adventurer teams only earned Credits if they were powerful enough, and to develop a team’s strength, it was only natural that it charged Coins or Magic Crystals.
“Five hundred Gold,” the Assassin replied.
“Five hundred?! Isn’t this a little much?!” When the heard the Assassin’s price, the few players behind the Elementalist objected.
At this stage of the game, 500 Gold was an astronomical amount, even to expert players. Individual experts would be lucky if they obtained a weapon or equipment piece that could sell for more than 10 Gold. Anything more valuable than that would be extremely difficult for individual players to get their hands on.
Five hundred Gold was a significant amount to any Guild, yet the Green Eye adventurer team demanded so much just for some information. This was simply extortion.
“It’s not such a high price. It wasn’t easy to secure this information from within Zero Wing, and we paid a heavy price to obtain it Moreover, this includes the latest details about the Guild,” the Tier 2 Assassin said, unperturbed by his customers’ reaction.
“Fine! I’ll pay the 500 Gold!” the female Elementalist said, gritting her teeth.
“Vice Guild Leader, we just started our development in Star-Moon Kingdom. We’re short on funds in all aspects. Isn’t this expenditure too expensive? Why don’t we discuss it with the Guild Leader first?” a Tier 2 Berserker quickly suggested.
Unlike the other Guilds in the bar, their Guild wasn’t from Star-Moon Kingdom. They were based in another country and had
been forced to shift the Guild’s development to this kingdom.
Despite the Tier 2 Berserker’s reaction, the other Guild players didn’t seem surprised. They simply minded their own business.
Such occurrences were very common in the virtual gaming world, especially in the incredibly popular God’s Domain. A large number of Guilds rose and fell in the game on a daily basis. So, it wasn’t surprising to hear that a Guild had shifted its focus to another kingdom since its original home base was no longer habitable.
However, if the various Guild players noticed the Guild Emblem on the female Elementalist and her companions, they’d be surprised. This Guild Emblem belonged to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, a first-rate Guild. It was a colossal existence to these various Guilds, a true large Guild that would be considered an overlord in any kingdom.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll pay this 500 Gold from my own pocket. We don’t need to use the Guild’s funds,” the female Elementalist responded, shaking her head. She then took out 500 Gold and handed the Coins to the independent Assassin.
“Here is all of the information we have gathered on Zero Wing recently. Take a look.” After receiving the 500 Gold, the Assassin took out a crystal ball and traded it with the female Elementalist.
The crystal ball contained a recording of all of Zero Wing’s latest movements. It also held more than a dozen battle videos of the fight in Wildhammer Town. Naturally, these battle videos involved the Giant players. In addition, one video within the crystal ball showed Zero Wing’s arrival in Golden Flow Town. Unfortunately, the video didn’t have a long duration, cutting off after ten or so seconds of footage.
“Is Zero Wing insane? It’s actually attacking the heavily fortified Golden Flow Town?” The female Elementalist was astonished after examining the information within the crystal ball.
Golden Flow Town was the Starlight Alliance’s last remaining town, and the alliance had invested an unimaginable amount of manpower and resources in it, yet Zero Wing had besieged the town the moment it finished capturing Wildhammer Town. No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t take this matter seriously.
“Vice Guild Leader, what should we do? Should we move to another kingdom or stay here?” the other upper echelons from the Hundred Flowers Pavilion asked softly.
The Hundred Flowers Pavilion had decided that the chaos in Star-Moon Kingdom made for an excellent opportunity to leave the Dark Night Empire. Although the kingdom didn’t have as many resources as the empire, it had grown into a considerably powerful country after several major events.
If the Hundred Flowers Pavilion could secure a foothold in Star-Moon Kingdom, it could rise to power once more.
As Cleansed Rue, the Hundred Flowers Pavilion’s Vice Guild Leader, decided her Guild’s future, the bar’s atmosphere changed. Suddenly, a heavy sensation enveloped the bar.
“What’s happening?” Cleansed Rue wondered aloud as she looked around at the bar’s customers.
“What? Your Guild didn’t receive the announcement?” the Assassin from Green Eye asked, giving Cleansed Rue a strange look. “Every Guild member from the Warring Empire has just received a message stating that Golden Flow Town has fallen!”