Chapter 2354 – Mental Strengthening

“What Memory says is true, Guild Leader Black Flame,” South Dream added, afraid that s.h.i.+ Feng would misunderstand their intentions. “G.o.d’s Domain is becoming more popular across the globe. More corporations have been investing in the game, as well, and as a result, Azure’s two main shareholders have become desperate to win the organization’s right to rule. Azure might focus its development on the western continent, but it still had a lot of influence among the eastern continent’s empires. If either of the shareholders decide to target Zero Wing, your Guild’s development will suffer.”

Zero Wing might be very powerful, but it wasn’t a superpower like the Azure Chamber of Commerce.

This was especially true now that the western and eastern continents had more contact. Many superpowers were trying to join Azure. If Azure asked those superpowers to move against Zero Wing as a condition for joining, many of them would be more than willing to fulfill that request. At that time, Zero Wing’s position would become very precarious.

If Zero Wing did not wish to suffer, it had to allow Silent Wonder to leave. Not only would she have more access to resources, but Yan Xiaoqian wouldn’t be able to monopolize Dark Pursuit’s strength, either. As for Zero Wing, it would avoid Azure’s wrath and receive help from Dark Pursuit.

Silent Wonder gave s.h.i.+ Feng an apologetic look. She knew how crazy her family was about this compet.i.tion. If the two families hadn’t kept such a close eye on each other, they would’ve likely resorted to underhanded means to win the upcoming compet.i.tion.

She also knew that if her family lost, they’d go ballistic. They would absolutely vent their anger out on Zero Wing.

Meanwhile, Zero Wing wasn’t in the best of positions at the moment. If more superpowers tried to interfere, the Guild’s days would be numbered.

“Thank you for informing me of the situation. If there is nothing else you’d wish to discuss, I’ll consider our meeting over now. I still have other matters I need to attend to,” s.h.i.+ Feng calmly replied.

“What are you trying to say, Guild Leader Black Flame?” Cold Memory stared at the Swordsman, confused.

For a moment, she even wondered if s.h.i.+ Feng knew anything about the Azure Chamber of Commerce or Dark Pursuit. If he made the wrong decision now, Zero Wing would encounter enough trouble to ensure the Guild’s destruction.

“I’m already aware of Wonder’s situation. If another Guild can support her, so can Zero Wing,” s.h.i.+ Feng said, chuckling as he replied to Cold Memory.

s.h.i.+ Feng was far more familiar with the Azure Chamber of Commerce’s strength than Cold Memory. It was one of the top 10 Chambers of Commerce in the virtual gaming world, after all. It was as powerful as Super Guilds; ordinary superpowers simply couldn’t compare.

Needless to say, s.h.i.+ Feng knew about Dark Pursuit, as well. Not only was Dark Pursuit a veteran Super Guild, but it had also annihilated two superpowers after the Planar Pa.s.sages’ activation during his previous life.

If Zero Wing had encountered this situation some weeks ago, he would’ve seriously considered the matter. However, that was unnecessary now.

“Guild Leader!”

Silent Wonder was incredibly touched by s.h.i.+ Feng’s statement. She became even more resolved to remain in Zero Wing.

Insane! This guy must be insane! Does he really think he can help Silent Wonder with Zero Wing’s resources?! The response rendered Cold Memory speechless.

Azure’s internal compet.i.tion wasn’t just a compet.i.tion of alchemy standards. It was also a compet.i.tion of strength. Zero Wing’s resources couldn’t even compare to an ordinary superpower’s, much less Dark Pursuit’s.

“Memory, I’ve decided. I want to stay in Zero Wing. Even if Yan Xiaoqian has Dark Pursuit’s full support, with the Research Workshop, my defeat isn’t guaranteed,” Silent Wonder decided, turning to look Cold Memory in the eyes.

“Suit yourself! I don’t care anymore! You better not regret this later!” Cold Memory exclaimed, annoyed. She had never thought Silent Wonder would be confident of defeating Yan Xiaoqian.

Yan Xiaoqian had access to the Intermediate Meditation Room every day and was only one step away from becoming an Advanced Master Alchemist. Dark Pursuit planned to invest all of its available resources in her training to secure its first Advanced Master Alchemist, as well.

On the other hand, Zero Wing’s only advantage was its Research Workshop. The workshop might help Silent Wonder became an Advanced Master Alchemist, but she wasn’t likely to complete her promotion before the internal compet.i.tion. The Research Workshop only provided hints. Players still had to research their designs or recipes and materials and experiment. It wasn’t possible to reach Advanced Master rank quickly, and this wasn’t just a compet.i.tion involving alchemy standards.

Had Silent Wonder joined Dark Pursuit, she would have, more or less, had a chance at victory, but since she had decided to remain in Zero Wing, she had practically no hope.

Cold Memory and South Dream then left the reception room. For Zero Wing’s arrogance and Silent Wonder’s blind faith, she could already predict the outcome that awaited them.

“Memory, are you really done caring about this?” South Dream asked.

“I don’t have anything else that could persuade Wonder. Our only other choice is to recruit Moon Silk for Dark Pursuit.

I didn’t want to approach her, but her strength is unquestionable. If Moon Silk wins, Silent Wonder can maintain her position in the family, for the most part,” Cold Memory said as she shook her head in frustration.

The compet.i.tion between the two main families involved more than two people. Six people would take part in total, three from each family. As long as one of the partic.i.p.ants earned first place, the other two family members’ performance wouldn’t matter. The winner’s family will still secure the right to rule the organization.

Moon Silk was the most talented among the three partic.i.p.ants from Silent Wonder’s family. However, she was also the most quirky of the three. Cold Memory had hoped to avoid approaching the woman.

However, as things were now, they didn’t have a choice if they wanted to help Silent Wonder’s family win the compet.i.tion.

“Moon Silk?” Even South Dream shuddered at the mention of her name.

However, after giving the matter some thought, he agreed with his companion. At least, this option would increase their chances of victory. If Moon Silk won the compet.i.tion, Silent Wonder’s family wouldn’t restrict her freedom overmuch.

Following which, Cold Memory and South Dream quickly left White River City and made their way to the city Moon Silk resided in.

Meanwhile, back in Candlelight’s top-floor reception room, s.h.i.+ Feng pulled an ancient, sealed parchment from his bag once his guests had left.

“I’ll leave this with you for now. I hope it will help you become an Advanced Master Alchemist as quickly as possible. If you succeed, you’ll have a much greater chance of winning your family’s compet.i.tion,” s.h.i.+ Feng said as he carefully removed the seal and handed it to Silent Wonder.

As Silent Wonder inspected the parchment, her eyes went wide in shock.

“Guild Leader, how did you get this recipe?” Silent Wonder’s breathing grew somewhat labored as she stared at the recipe in her hands.

What she held was no ordinary recipe. It was a Peak Master Recipe for the Droplet of Life potion. Countless alchemists dreamed of getting their hands on this parchment to study and learn from it.

The reason for this was because of the Water of Life.

With the Water of Life, one could resurrect the dead. The potion contained an unimaginable amount of life force and served as one of the base materials to resurrect NPCs. Unfortunately, the Water of Life was too precious and more valuable than what money could buy.

The Droplet of Life potion was a weakened version of the Water of Life. Although it couldn’t resurrect NPCs, it could help NPCs recover from severe and permanent injuries. It was easy to imagine how valuable this recipe was.

Most importantly, no one had even found an Advanced Master Recipe yet, much less a Peak Master Recipe.

Alchemists that wanted to rise through the ranks needed to create new recipes, but to create a recipe suitable for their rank, they needed a lot of reference material. Without that, they wouldn’t know where to start, which was why Master Recipes were so valuable in G.o.d’s Domain. However, at Silent Wonder’s standard, Basic Master Recipes[l] were no longer useful; she’d need Advanced Master Recipes.

Unfortunately, she had never managed to locate an alchemical Master Recipe, and as a result, she had been forced to explore and experiment by herself.

The Droplet of Life Recipe would definitely help her reach the Advanced Master Alchemist rank.

Rather than answer Silent Wonder’s question, s.h.i.+ Feng asked, “Now that you have this recipe, how confident are you in completing your promotion?”

The Droplet of Life Recipe was incomparably precious and one of the most important recipes the Sunset King had dropped. It was only inferior to Grandmaster Recipes. s.h.i.+ Feng had planned to offer it as a benefit for the Guild’s core members, allowing Candlelight’s Master Alchemists time to study it. However, to help Silent Wonder reach Advanced Master rank as soon as possible, he decided to postpone those plans.

“I’m afraid that I’m only 30% confident of reaching my promotion before the compet.i.tion,” Silent Wonder said helplessly after a moment of self-reflection. Becoming an Advanced Master Alchemist wasn’t easy, and even with the Research Workshop’s a.s.sistance, she’d still need time to conduct her own research.

“Thirty percent?” After pondering for some time, s.h.i.+ Feng said, “It’s a little off, but it should be enough.”

After saying so, s.h.i.+ Feng called up the Candlelight Trading Finn’s system interface and chose to upgrade the Shop in Blue Bay City to 3-star status. At the same time, he established a Shared Warehouse and sent the members there to transfer the Primal Void Stones.

The various major powers would likely a.s.sume the best use of the Primal Void Stones was selling them to the dark forces for Gold and resources, but they weren’t aware of the stones’ other function.

Mental Strengthening!