1317 White River City Promoted

Chapter 1317 - White River City Promoted

White River City, Teleportation Hall:

Shortly after Shi Feng arrived in the Teleportation Hall, the system notified him of a communication request from Blackie.

"Guild Leader, you're back! Have you completed your promotion quest?!" Blackie asked eagerly.

Only a few people in the Guild knew that Shi Feng had challenged his promotion quest. Blackie was one of those people.

Currently, Tier 2 was still an unknown realm to players like him. Moreover, Shi Feng had constantly told them that only by reaching Tier 2 would they emerge in God's Domain as a true adventurer player. Tier 1 was only a warm-up phase to help them familiarize themselves with the game's combat. Unlike the Tier 1 promotion, not every player would complete their Tier 2 promotion.

The fact that Shi Feng's class was a hidden class meant that his Tier 2 Promotion Quest would be all the more difficult.

Although Blackie trusted Shi Feng's strength, the Guild Leader had previously mentioned that he would need at least five days to complete his quest. However, Shi Feng had emerged long before those five days were up. Hence, Blackie was surprised to see his friend so soon.

"I just need to register with the Adventurer's Association," Shi Feng said, nodding. "But since you've contacted me, has something urgent happened?"

"Yesterday, a particular group of people showed up in the Battle Arena, and they've been challenging various experts constantly. Even now, those players are undefeated. They even defeated the previous champion. The group then issued a public challenge against Zero Wing's experts. But we've run out of qualified experts already…" Blackie awkwardly explained.

"Run out of qualified experts?" Shi Feng asked, "Did you lose as well?"

"Mhm. The group's Assassin defeated me. That player was too fast. Even I had trouble keeping up with him. Eventually, the Assassin whittled me down," Blackie said reluctantly.

"This is interesting. Do you know their in-game IDs?" Shi Feng asked curiously.

Blackie might not have much combat talent, but after training for so long, he had become extraordinarily strong. With his powerful weapon and equipment, ordinary peak experts should not be a match for Blackie, yet he had been defeated. Clearly, their opponents couldn't be underestimated. The Assassin must be a well-known expert in God's Domain.

"We only found out one of their IDs. You've met the player before. It's that Evil Fire kid that fought in the friendly competition. His in-game ID is also Evil Fire. He's the group's leader. As for the others, they've been wearing Black Cloaks, keeping their names hidden," Blackie said.

"Evil Fire?" No matter how hard Shi Feng racked his mind, he couldn't remember an expert named Evil Fire from the past. However, the fact that even Evil Fire's companions could defeat Blackie proved that they weren't a bunch of noobs. "I got it. Notify Aqua and have her deal with the group for now. I'll head over once I'm done here."

"Understood." Blackie then disconnected the call and contacted Aqua Rose.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng rode an advanced horse carriage to the Adventurer's Association.

-

Adventurer's Association:

As more leveling maps were discovered around the White River City region, the Adventurer's Association had become one of the four most frequented spots in White River City. Countless players gathered in the Association every day to pick up quests that increased their Reputation with the Association and offered high rewards.

Upon entering the splendorous building, Shi Feng was greeted by the sight of long lines of players queuing up for the quest counters. Plenty of players also loitered as they formed parties or drank and chatted in the Association's bar. Among these players, there were quite a few Level 40 expert players wearing impressive equipment. Even the most inferior piece these experts wore was Level 40 Secret-Silver Equipment, with the majority being Level 40 Fine-Gold Equipment.

Normally, one only encountered such a commotion in the Adventurer's Associations in empires' capitals.

"The quests in the Eclipse Gate this time are awesome! Did you know; my party made a huge profit from a single quest. It's a pity that the team from the Rhine Kingdom snatched the rare herb stalks. Otherwise, every member of our party would've earned at least 50 Silver Coins."

"That much?"

"Of course! The Eclipse Gate is awesome. You can easily find rare herbs and ores. Moreover, the monsters provide above average EXP. And that's only the tip of the iceberg. I've heard that some teams even got their hands on Energy Essence! It can nurture Guild Mounts! Several Guilds are offering to purchase Energy Essence in bulk. I hear that each essence can sell for 45 Silver. If we can grind ten a day, after including other random loot, each of our party members can earn 1 Gold per day!"

"Is the Eclipse Gate really that good? We have an expert leading our party, and we're doing quite well, but even then, we're only making around 30 Silver per day. Who knows how long it will take me to save up for a Mount? You sure are lucky. At this rate, you should be able to buy a Mount within a month, right?"

"Hehe. Didn't I already ask you to join my party? If you do, you can get your own Mount within a month, too."

…

The majority of the players in the hall were talking about the Eclipse Gate. They all yearned to head to the Eclipse Gate and earn enough money to buy a Mount as soon as possible.

At this stage of the game, plenty of powerful elite players had already reached Level 40. It was only a matter of time before mainstream players reached Level 40 as well.

After reaching Level 40, Mounts would become the dividing factor between ordinary players and elites.

The difference in leveling efficiency between players with Mounts and players without would be as vast as the difference between heaven and earth. Moreover, thanks to Mounts, players could explore further within a certain amount of time. This, in turn, would increase players' daily income.

In God's Domain, ores and herbs weren't concentrated to specific locations. However, they weren't usually found near cities. Hence, a player's daily income largely depended on how much distance they could cover in a given time. As the majority of players hadn't obtained their Mounts yet, distant locations would have less competition. As a result, players could obtain even more profit.

The sooner one obtained a Mount, the sooner they could pull ahead of the pack and enjoy more resources. One could say that Mounts were irreplaceable in determining how fast players leveled up and increased their strength.

Hearing the players in the hall talk about the Eclipse Gate, Shi Feng understood why so many Level 40 and above players had gathered in the Adventurer's Association.

According to his original estimates, White River City still needed at least ten days before it could be promoted. However, he had never imagined that White River City would fulfill that requirement while he had been in the Dark Canyon. This was definitely an unexpected surprise.

With a high-resource map like the Eclipse Gate, Zero Wing wouldn't have to worry about its development in White River City. They could send a large group of players to the Eclipse Gate to level up instead of crowding in the limited, high-resource maps in the White River City region. In addition, Guild members could level up far more quickly at the Eclipse Gate.

Most importantly, however, this was a huge opportunity for Zero Wing to make a fortune.

The Eclipse Gate's outer area might be bearable for most players, but the farther players ventured, the more severe the environment would become. At the same time, players would encounter more resources and Bosses. The drop-rate for Energy Essence would also increase. If players wanted to obtain these resources easily, they first needed to increase their Ice and Fire Resistance.

After activating the Eclipse Gate, Star-Moon Kingdom descended into madness in the past as players delved farther into the area. The various large Guilds had frantically purchased various potions and equipment that increased Ice and Fire Resistance. These items' prices had inflated crazily. When they appeared in the market for a reasonable price, they were purchased instantly.

Shortly after Shi Feng reached the Adventurer's Association's second-floor VIP lounge, an elegant NPC senior administrator entered the room.

"Lord Protector, how may I serve you today?" the middle-aged man asked Shi Feng respectfully.

"I wish to complete my Tier 2 promotion procedures," Shi Feng quietly announced.