Chapter 1006 – Super-Ancient Design

Eternal Realm, primordial civilization city, Zero Wing’s Residence:

“What’s the current situation in the Demon God Forest?” Shi Feng asked when he saw Blackie enter his office with the latest war report. “Have Rain and the others evacuated safely?”

Shortly after Shi Feng exited the battlefield, he had the misfortune of getting hunted by a Level 245 Ancient Demon God because of his ties with Kalisha. As a result, he spent the next two hours fleeing for his life in the Demon God Forest. If not for the Seven Luminaries Codex’s Chapter of Space and his extra bottles of Divine Blood, he would never have been able to shake off the Ancient Demon God’s pursuit.

However, while he might have safely escaped the Demon God Forest, he didn’t know if he could say the same for the rest of his team. For all he knew, the various powers might have directed their anger at Phoenix Rain and the other Zero Wing members after his departure.

“They’ve evacuated successfully and are on their way back,” Blackie said excitedly. “According to the offline report I received, many pseudo-apex powers’ teams approached them to congratulate Zero Wing. These pseudo-apex powers want to establish trade relations with Zero Wing and have offered to sell some of their shops in the Eternal Realm’s NPC Cities to us at a 50% discount. In return, all they ask is we give their members a 10% discount when using the Tower of the Abyss. Here is the list of shops they are willing to sell.”

“This many?” Shi Feng was surprised when he saw the list Blackie passed to him. “Are you sure they’re not joking?”

The list indicated six pseudo-apex powers were willing to partner with Zero Wing, each offering to sell over 30 shops across seven to ten NPC Cities. Moreover, these shops were all situated near prime locations or streets with high foot traffic. If a pseudo-apex power were to buy all these shops, its economic power would soar to the next level.

If Zero Wing could obtain all these shops, its daily income and area of influence would skyrocket, making purchasing various materials and recruiting new members much easier. Its development speed would also increase significantly.

Yet, all the six pseudo-apex powers asked in return was a 10% discount for the Tower of the Abyss. No matter how Shi Feng looked at it, this was a huge loss for them. After all, the Tower of the Abyss’s entry fee was so exorbitant that their normal and elite members wouldn’t be able to afford it—even with a 10% discount. Only their core members and chosen ones would have the financial resources to afford the fee. With so few players taking advantage of this discount, the six pseudo-apex powers wouldn’t save much money from it.

“I thought the same initially,” Blackie said, chuckling. “But I later received a very important piece of news, and I’m guessing it is because of this news that those pseudo-apex powers are willing to make such a favorable offer.”

“What news?” Shi Feng asked curiously.

“It’s just a rumor for now, so I can’t be sure,” Blackie said before pausing for a moment. “It seems that the Seven Luminaries Alliance is suggesting to give you, Guild Leader, and Phoenix Rain seats in the Senate. If that’s true, Zero Wing will have two Grand Elders in the Seven Luminaries Alliance, giving us a considerable voice in the Alliance.”

“No wonder.” Shi Feng was enlightened after hearing this.

The 12 Grand Elder positions in the Seven Luminaries Alliance’s Senate were highly prized. Although they didn’t give players the authority to participate in and manage the Seven Luminaries Alliance’s internal affairs, they granted players the authority to dictate who to appoint as the Alliance’s Guild Leader and Vice Guild Leaders. Hence, those vying for these positions would do their best to win over the Alliance’s Grand Elders.

With the war among the three races intensifying, it was only a matter of time before the Holy Race’s and the Crystallian race’s armies besieged the human race’s NPC Cities in the Eternal Realm. However, as only the human race’s various apex powers could truly resist the full might of these alien armies, only NPC Cities with close ties to these apex powers would have a real chance of survival. The six pseudo-apex powers had to be aware of this and, hence, had decided to obtain the Seven Luminaries Alliance’s protection. To obtain this protection, they would naturally be willing to sacrifice some of their profits in their NPC Cities.

“Guild Leader, should we buy these shops?” Blackie asked worriedly. “With our current strength, we can barely afford to defend two or three NPC Cities. But if we want to buy even more shops across more cities, we would have to start relying on the Seven Luminaries Alliance.”

If it was only defending two or three NPC Cities, Zero Wing could tackle the task by itself. After all, the Guild already had many Level 240-plus experts under its command. Once the Guild had enough Level 245 Taboo Legendary Equipment to equip all these experts, it could easily produce several legions that rivaled the various apex powers’ elite expert legions in strength.

However, if Zero Wing wanted to protect more NPC Cities, it would have to use the Seven Luminaries Alliance’s strength, which would mean owing the Alliance a favor—an incredibly huge favor.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t we buy them?” Shi Feng said without hesitation.

“But their shops span across seven to ten cities. Where would we find so many experts to defend all these cities?” Blackie said with a wry smile. “Are we really going to ask the Seven Luminaries Alliance for help?”

“We might lack experts right now, but that is a problem we can fix. Also, how can the Guild have more experts if we don’t expand our development?” Shi Feng said, casually waving his hand. “Since those powers are willing to sell their shops, we’ll take everything they offer.”

The current Zero Wing was indeed short of experts. However, as Zero Wing’s stockpile of Divine Blood grew and the Tower of the Abyss’s effects became more apparent to the public, Zero Wing could surely grow to rival royal powers. Now that there was a chance to purchase so many shops across so many NPC Cities, he’d be a fool not to take it. After all, the presence these shops offered could already rival that of a pseudo-apex power.

“I understand. I’ll contact them right away,” Blackie said. After hearing Shi Feng’s confident response, he realized that this was indeed an excellent opportunity for Zero Wing to expand its area of influence. He immediately left Shi Feng’s office to contact the six pseudo-apex powers’ representatives.

After Blackie left, Shi Feng activated his office’s magic barrier and carefully retrieved the five items he snatched from the Undying Mother’s loot.

The five items were a glass bottle holding pitch-black liquid, an amorphous tentacle, a pitch-black Taboo Nucleus, a tattered scroll, and a parchment fragment.

The glass bottle holding pitch-black liquid was the Mutant’s Blood that Dragon’s Crown and Silver Will needed, while the amorphous tentacle was the Undying Tentacle he needed to complete Enos’s quest. As for the tattered scroll and the parchment fragment, he couldn’t glean any information from them without performing a detailed appraisal due to their damaged states.

“This is…a super-ancient design?”

Shi Feng was dumbfounded when he finished appraising the tattered scroll.

…