Chapter 2326 – 1-star Lord

System: You have completed the Crusade Quest for the Ice Dragon, Heathwaite. Rewarding Lord’s Token, Level +1, Star-Moon Kingdom Reputation +300, Guild Popularity +10,000

System: Congratulations! You are the first player to become a Lord in G.o.d’s Domain. Rewarding Lord Popularity +100. System: Congratulations! For acquiring 100 Lord Popularity Points, you have been promoted to a 1-star Lord.

The system notification repeated three times while s.h.i.+ Feng rose to Level 102.

The system promoted me to a 1-star Lord just for being the first player to become one? s.h.i.+ Feng couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the system notifications.

The concept of a Lord was still likely foreign to most players, not to mention Lord Popularity.

When players became a Lord in G.o.d’s Domain, they’d gain the ability to recruit NPCs to form their own Knight Division. However, the process was similar to searching for Personal Guards, so it had its challenges. Furthermore, a Knight Division had 5,000 slots. It was easy to imagine how difficult it would be to fill these slots with high-quality NPCs.

The only method to ease the process was to increase one’s Lord Popularity.

The higher a Lord’s Popularity was in G.o.d’s Domain, the easier it would be to persuade and recruit NPCs with high Growth Potential. Unfortunately, increasing one’s Lord Popularity was incredibly difficult, only possible by completing special quests. Moreover, one would only gain a handful of Popularity Points with each quest.

Acc.u.mulating 100 Lord Popularity normally required a lot of time and effort.

Meanwhile, every 100-point increment was a turning point. The first 100 points would elevate one to a 1-star Lord, at which point players wouldn’t have to run around NPC cities in search of appropriate NPCs. They could simply start a draft though the Adventurer’s a.s.sociation.

These drafted NPCs might not be uniformly powerful, but there would be quite a few with high Growth Potential. If one were lucky enough, they might even recruit a Secret-Silver Guard.

Of course, with more Lord Popularity, the standard of their drafted NPCs would increase.

The problem of increasing his Lord Popularity to 100 points had troubled s.h.i.+ Feng. Without a solution, he’d have to spend several months finding capable NPCs to fill his 5,000 Knight slots. Fortunately, G.o.d’s Domain solved that problem for him.

“Administrator Lorrain, I wish to draft members for my Knight Division through the a.s.sociation,” s.h.i.+ Feng declared as he showed the Lord’s Token to the Elven administrator.

Very well. However, the fee will depend on the scale of the draft you wish to implement. Generally, a draft in a town costs 10 Gold per week, 100 Gold per week in a city, 300 Gold per week in a kingdom’s capital, and 1,000 Gold per week in an imperial capital. Where would you like to implement your draft?” Lorrain asked.

How expensive. It’s no wonder why the Adventurer’s a.s.sociation is the fourth wealthiest power in G.o.d’s Domain. s.h.i.+ Feng was speechless after hearing the prices.

Second- and third-rate Guilds had no hope of obtaining a Lord’s position in the past. The various superpowers and top-ranked first-rate Guilds had monopolized this benefit.

Hence, s.h.i.+ Feng hadn’t actually known how much it would cost to implement a draft. He certainly hadn’t expected it to cost this much to form a Knight Division.

The results of a draft depended on one’s luck. NPCs would not simply respond to a draft because the Adventurer’s a.s.sociation had issued it. According to s.h.i.+ Feng’s calculations, he would need to implement a draft in several hundred cities to recruit 5,000 Knights with relatively high Growth Potential in a short time.

“I’d like to implement the draft in these countries’ cities,” s.h.i.+ Feng decided. After giving the matter some thought, he felt it would be best to recruit from cities in flouris.h.i.+ng kingdoms and empires. In the end, he paid 44,500 Gold to implement his draft in more than 400 cities. It was a large enough expenditure to put a first-rate Guild’s finances in the red. G.o.d’s Domain’s Guilds were pus.h.i.+ng their experts to reach Level 100 right now, and as a result, it was only natural that their expenses would rise.

Fortunately, Zero Wing had the Candlelight Trading Firm and multiple Guild Towns and Cities to generate income. The Guild earned just as much profit as an ordinary superpower.

However, Zero Wing still needed to support its main headquarters in the real world and the Heaven’s Rumble Training Center. The Guild wasn’t particularly wealthy at the moment.

It seems I’ll have to find ways to increase the Guild’s profits. With how much Zero Wing has right now, financing 5,000 Knights is impossible. After paying for the drafting fee, s.h.i.+ Feng mentally calculated how much he’d need to spend on his future Knight Division.

A 5,000-man Knight Division would definitely be an amazing a.s.set, but it would be expensive to maintain. Unlike the NPC soldiers one could recruit to defend Guild Towns and Cities, Knights weren’t affiliated with a kingdom or empire. Rather, they were considered a Lord’s personal combat power. Hence, players would not receive subsidies from a kingdom or empire, relying on their own funds to pay their Knights’ salaries. Affording a Knight Division wasn’t easy, and to make matters worse, each Knight’s salary would depend on the NPC’s Growth Potential.

To hire and nurture a Bronze ranked, Tier 2 Knight, one would have to spend 50 Gold per week. Multiplied by 5,000, a Division of Bronze, Tier 2 Knights would cost 250,000 Gold per week. Moreover, this cost didn’t include the price of weapons and equipment for these Knights…

For a moment, s.h.i.+ Feng couldn’t help but admire the first-rate Guilds that had ruled their own territories in the past.

Once he had taken care of the draft order, s.h.i.+ Feng left the Adventurer’s a.s.sociation and made his way to the Candlelight Trading Firm. He intended to start the Crimson Dragon Flying s.h.i.+p’s production immediately.

After reaching Level 100, the various powers would prioritize their aerial development. Whoever controlled the sky would become an overlord in G.o.d’s Domain. Level 100-plus maps were very far from civilization, after all, and the ability to travel through the sky would give players a huge advantage when grinding for resources. Moreover, this advantage would become more prominent as time pa.s.sed.

If he wanted to bolster Zero Wing’s development, he had to arm the Guild with Flying s.h.i.+ps.