Chapter 3700 - 774 - Astonishing Profits  

World Ark, Shadowring Town:

“Why have they all come out?”

“Do the five powers not plan on capturing this town?”

“It can’t be, right? This is the only Guild Town in the core area. If taken advantage of properly, you can make a fortune from collecting rent alone. Not to mention, the town can facilitate trade between the two races. How can the five powers possibly give up on it?”

The millions of players observing Shadowring Town from a distance immediately engaged in a heated discussion when they saw the Tier 6 experts of the two royal powers and three apex powers exiting the town. They couldn’t believe the five powers would give up on a treasure trove like Shadowring Town.

Admittedly, the player population Shadowring Town could accommodate paled compared to NPC Cities. As an Advanced Town, Shadowring Town could only accommodate up to two million players at a time, which was a far cry from NPC Cities that could accommodate tens of millions of players. However, Shadowring Town was a Guild Town. This meant that the town’s ruling power could keep all the profits generated by the town; they wouldn’t need to pay a hefty tax to NPCs.

Hence, even if Shadowring Town only had a stable player population of two million, the income it could generate would easily exceed that of shops in NPC Cities.

…

Inside an Advanced Tent situated roughly a thousand yards away from Shadowring Town…

A group of Tier 6 players wearing the Skylight Association’s Guild Emblem revealed astonished looks when they saw a female Berserker, whose body was as robust as a bear, walking out of Shadowring Town.

“Elder Sword, what do you think is going on? Setting the Holy Race aside, even that Phoenix Flame has come out,” Milia, who had risen to Level 182, asked as she looked at Nineteenth Sword, who was currently at Level 184, Tier 6.

Nineteenth Sword was one of the Greater God’s Domain’s Ten Great Sword Gods, and he had risen to fame for quite some years now. Although he had mostly been operating as an independent player in the past, he had many disciples among the various powers. Among these disciples was Phoenix Flame, one of Demon’s Gate’s current Six Great Paragons. Furthermore, she was among the most outstanding disciples Nineteenth Sword had nurtured in recent years, and there was hope that she would catch up to Spear Paradise in the future.

Hence, if Milia had to point out who in the Skylight Association was the most familiar with Phoenix Flame, it would definitely have to be Nineteenth Sword.

“It is indeed strange,” Nineteenth Sword muttered, a hint of confusion appearing in his sharp gaze. “Although it has been quite a while since I last saw Phoenix Flame, that little girl has always been impatient and does things without regard for the consequences. She must have gone out of her way to come to seize Shadowring Town this time, so I find it hard to imagine she would leave without doing anything.”

“Could the power behind Shadowring Town be an existence even Demon’s Gate is wary of provoking?” Milia asked.

While she might not know much about the two royal powers from the Holy Race, Demon’s Gate’s modus operandi was known by all among the human race. Considering Shadowring Town’s significance, she could think of only one explanation as to why Demon’s Gate would walk away without a fight: it could not afford to provoke Shadowring Town.

“That’s a likely possibility,” Nineteenth Sword said with a pondering look. Then, he moved his gaze toward Shadowring Town and continued, “But this is good news for the Skylight Association. The withdrawal of the five powers signifies that even they are powerless against Shadowring Town. Previously, the five powers held an overwhelming advantage in the core area due to their resurrection camps, but with Shadowring Town’s appearance, we can have a chance at catching up with the five powers’ exploration teams.

“If we can partner with the power behind Shadowring Town, we might even be able to surpass the five powers’ exploration progress!” action

Nineteenth Sword’s words excited Milia and the other Skylight Association members present.

Although the various powers currently already had the ability to explore the World Ark’s core area, compared to the two royal powers and three apex powers, who all owned resurrection camps in the core area, their accomplishments in the core area could only be considered pitiful. Moreover, whenever they encountered the five powers’ members, they always had to step aside. Even when Regional Bosses, treasure chests, and monster respawn points were right before them, they still had to surrender everything to the five powers.

Otherwise, should a fight break out, the consequences would not be something that they, powers without resurrection camps in the core area, could bear.

However, it was a different story now that Shadowring Town had appeared. Not only could they register to resurrect in Shadowring Town, but they could also rely on the town to thoroughly recuperate. Most importantly, since even the five powers were powerless to do anything about Shadowring Town, other powers could start to oppose the five powers’ teams out in the fields without fearing losing their foothold in the core area.

At this time, the Skylight Association wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. The other powers and adventurer teams present to see the five powers’ defeat also came to a similar conclusion. Because of this, as soon as the five powers’ members disappeared into the distance, every player gathered outside Shadowring Town charged into the town without hesitation. Everyone was focused on renting hotel rooms or finding out how to rent shops and private houses in the town.

In less than half an hour, the hotels, restaurants, and shops of Shadowring Town became fully packed with players. The situation on the streets was also remarkable, with endless crowds walking along the streets and player stalls popping up one after another.

…

“Madness! This is simply madness! It costs one Eternal Gold every 24 hours to rent a stall space here, yet not a single unoccupied space remains! The profits this town can rake in a day from stall rental alone can probably already match the apex powers’ daily income!” While strolling the streets of Shadowring Town, Frey couldn’t help but be stupefied when she saw that player stalls lined every corner of every street. Normally, in an NPC City with a player population in the tens of millions, the number of player stalls in the city would, at best, amount to several tens of thousands. However, despite Shadowring Town having a player population of just two million, over 200,000 players were setting up stalls here.

Moreover, unlike NPC Cities, which charged a mere two or three Eternal Silver per day for street stalls, Shadowring Town demanded a hefty one Eternal Gold every 24 hours. This translated to over 400,000 Eternal Gold in a God’s Domain day, a staggering sum far beyond the reach of even the strongest of pseudo-apex powers in the current Eternal Realm. Only apex powers could possibly achieve such a daily income.

“It is indeed astonishing.” Garut agreed with Frey’s sentiment while looking at the many stalls operated by Holy Race players. “Although I’ve long known the town would prosper once it opens, I never thought it would reach such a frightening extent. If we hadn’t signed a contract with Zero Wing early on, we might not even have the qualifications to compete for a shop in Shadowring Town.”

Frey nodded in agreement, a feeling of delight spreading within her.

When considering Shadowring Town’s future promotion, the town needed to have many NPC Merchants establish operations here. Because of this, there were only so many shops the town could rent out to players.

Although the Red Dragon Nation and Azure Fang were pseudo-apex powers, their chances of winning would be slim if they had to compete fairly over Shadowring Town’s shops. It would be even more so if they included Holy Race powers in the competition.

After all, the Holy Race was vastly superior to the human race in numbers and strength. Their royal powers alone numbered as many as ten, while their apex and pseudo-apex powers outnumbered that of the human race by several times. If all these powers were allowed to compete for Shadowring Town’s shops, the Red Dragon Nation and Azure Fang’s chances of winning would be virtually non-existent.

…

Shadowring Town, Town Hall, VIP Lounge:

“Guild Leader Black Flame, we are likely to face a lot more trouble at the Crucible of the Ancients now that you have chased away Venom Tail and the others,” Verdant Rainbow said, wryly smiling as she looked at Shi Feng.

In addition to the Sun Dynasty, Sovereign Mark, and Demon’s Gate, Shi Feng had also permanently blacklisted the Eternal Chamber of Commerce for trying to seize Shadowring Town. From this point onward, so long as any member of these powers dared to set foot into Shadowring Town, the town’s NPC Guards would kill them on the spot.

Fortunately, she had established a partnership with Zero Wing prior to this situation. Otherwise, even the Seven Luminaries Alliance would have most likely received a similar treatment as the four other powers.

…