Chapter 528 - Characteristic Skill

The news regarding Black Flame quickly spread throughout Maple City.

Overwhelming Smile and Zero Wing had been waging an all-out war against each other. No one was surprised that Black Flame had taken his killing all the way to Maple City, considering it perfectly reasonable. Regarding this situation, everyone’s opinion of Zero Wing was still quite optimistic.

Normally, Overwhelming Smile occupied all the high-resource areas located within the Maple City Region, and many players were not happy about that. However, these players would not dare voice their anger as Overwhelming Smile was Maple City’s overlord. Now that someone capable of taking out Overwhelming Smile members had emerged, these players would cheer and support them.

However, as news of s.h.i.+ Feng’s hunt spread, another event had occurred that excited players in Maple City.

Another player-owned Shop had emerged in their city, and this Shop was the Candlelight Trading Firm.

The Candlelight Trading Firm sold a wide variety of goods, with the most precious item being the Basic Strengthened Armor Kit. Many players had never even seen the Basic Strengthened Armor Kits before. Hence, the moment Maple City’s players laid their eyes on the kits, they rushed to purchase their own. As a result, business at the Candlelight Trading Firm was far better than what the Overwhelming Trading Firm enjoyed.

Naturally, while there were some who celebrated the Candlelight Trading Firm’s new establishment in Maple City, there were others who grew worried.

Although the city’s players were overjoyed by this situation, Youlan, who was currently inside the Overwhelming Trading Firm, was incensed.

“Candlelight Trading Firm!” Youlan ground her teeth.

She had truly not expected that the Candlelight Trading Firm had been preparing to set up a Shop in Maple City. Furthermore, Candlelight had managed to obtain a plot of Land in the central district of the city. However, this was still not the most infuriating aspect. The most detestable thing was that the Candlelight Trading Firm had actually set up its Shop relatively close to the Overwhelming Trading Firm.

Due to the Candlelight Trading Firm having the advantage regarding available products, many of the Overwhelming Trading Firm’s original customers had s.h.i.+fted their attention towards the Candlelight Trading Firm.

“Boss, what are we supposed to do now? If this continues, Candlelight will s.n.a.t.c.h all of our remaining customers,” a Shop manager asked, concern filling his voice.

“We don’t have a choice. Our only option is to start a price war. Reduce the prices of all goods,” Youlan said, sighing helplessly. She did not have any good ideas about how to deal with this situation. Unless they could get their hands on some exclusive items, there was simply no way to compete with the Candlelight Trading Firm. Fortunately, unlike in White River City, the Overwhelming Trading Firm possessed some capital in Maple City, and their two Trading Firms had started with the same benefits around the same time. In addition, Maple City was their home ground. The cost of harvesting materials was significantly lower here, resulting in a lower production cost. They definitely had a fighting chance against the Candlelight Trading Firm.

In G.o.d’s Domain, Shops in different cities, but owned by the same player, shared products. However, while there was no city tax for consigning products to Shops in the player’s home city, there was a small 8% city tax charged for items consigned to sell at Shops in other cities. This was a protection mechanism of sorts implemented to protect the player-owned Shops of each respective city.

In other words, since the Candlelight Trading Firm’s main headquarters was in White River City, there was an invisible cost added to the items they sold in Maple City. To the Overwhelming Trading Firm, this was an advantage.

Sure enough, after the Overwhelming Trading Firm reduced its prices, other than players wanting to purchase products unique to the Candlelight Trading Firm, players quickly returned to shopping at the Overwhelming Trading Firm.

---

Meanwhile, in the Dragon Ridge, s.h.i.+ Feng was currently having the time of his life.

With wave after wave of Overwhelming Smile players marching towards their deaths, s.h.i.+ Feng had finally managed to upgrade the Icarus’s Heart to Dark-Gold rank. He was only a short distance away from upgrading the necklace to Epic rank now.

[Icarus’s Heart] (Necklace, Dark-Gold Rank [Can be evolved])

Equipment Requirement: All Attributes 120

Level 20 - Level 80 (Currently Level 30)

All Attributes +27

Luck +14

Additional Characteristic Skill -

Divine Providence: Temporarily increases player’s Luck by 32 points for 30 seconds.

Cooldown: 40 minutes

Luck, Duration, and Cooldown can be increased, prolonged, and reduced by sacrificing Life Force. Maximum of 100 points of Life Force per sacrifice.

Evolution Condition: Absorb the Life Force of 5,000 players to evolve to Epic Rank. (748/5,000)

The base Luck alone provided 14 points. That was significantly higher than the initial 5 points. However, that was not the improvement that excited s.h.i.+ Feng the most. Rather, it was the change that had occurred to the Divine Providence Skill.

Divine Providence had evolved from an ordinary Skill to a Characteristic Skill.

Characteristic Skills were different from normal Skills in which the Skill’s effects would undergo a transformation when certain conditions were met.

The Skill now allowed the sacrifice of Life Force to enhance its effects. Meanwhile, depending on the number of Life Force points sacrificed, the effects would also vary, with a maximum sacrifice of 100 Life Force points.

Currently, s.h.i.+ Feng had 748 Life Force points stored in the Icarus’s Heart. In other words, s.h.i.+ Feng could enhance the Icarus’s Heart’s effects to its maximum seven times.

“Since the Cooldown has already completed, this is a good chance to test its effects.” s.h.i.+ Feng could not contain his excitement when he looked at the bright gemstone around his neck.

He could receive 46 points of Luck before he had even sacrificed any Life Force points. This was the highest amount of Luck s.h.i.+ Feng had ever seen in either life.

If he sacrificed Life Force points as well, his Luck would reach frightening heights.

Soon, s.h.i.+ Feng retrieved over a dozen Twilight Treasure Chests from his bag, laying the chests out neatly in front of him. He then activated Divine Providence and chose to sacrifice 100 Life Force points.

Instantly, his Luck rose to 66 points, with the duration of Divine Providence increasing to 40 seconds and Cooldown decreasing to 30 minutes.

Hurriedly, s.h.i.+ Feng began opening the Twilight Treasure Chests.

With each chest requiring three seconds to open, s.h.i.+ Feng just barely managed to open twelve treasure chests in 40 seconds. Losing a few seconds when switching to the next treasure chest was inevitable.

Although s.h.i.+ Feng felt slightly disappointed about the time he had lost, when he thought about the additional effects gained from sacrificing Life Force, his mood instantly brightened again.

If he applied that 66 points of Luck when killing monsters, the drop-rate would be astounding. The rarely seen Jackpot might even occur, multiplying the number as well as increasing the quality of the items dropped.

Unfortunately, such a powerful effect came at the cost of 100 Life Force points.

He had only managed to kill so many players today due to catching Overwhelming Smile unprepared. However, after they set up certain precautions, it would not be as easy to harvest 100 Life Force points anymore. Of course, s.h.i.+ Feng absolutely refused to commit random murder.

Although there were many people in this world who did not have a bottom line, and even more so inside a game, s.h.i.+ Feng was not one of them. This was a fundamental principle of being a human being. If he crossed this line, he would be no different than an animal.

s.h.i.+ Feng then began collecting the items inside the Twilight Treasure Chests.

“Awesome!” s.h.i.+ Feng could not help but laugh. “Sure enough, the effects of 66 points of Luck are truly amazing!”

Among the twelve Twilight Treasure Chests, he had obtained four pieces of Tier 1 Set Equipment, one for s.h.i.+eld Warrior, Guardian Knight, a.s.sa.s.sin, and Cleric. Among them, the Tier 1 Set Equipment for s.h.i.+eld Warriors and Guardian Knights were the most difficult to obtain, yet, s.h.i.+ Feng had actually obtained one piece for both cla.s.ses.

Up until now, s.h.i.+ Feng had collected four of the five set pieces of the Yin-Yang Walker Set Equipment for Guardian Knights; he only lacked the boots now.

Currently, he had three pieces of the Mana Storm Set Equipment for Tier 1 Elementalists.

As for the Dark Melody Set Equipment for Tier 1 a.s.sa.s.sins, like the Yin-Yang Walker, s.h.i.+ Feng now had four pieces; he was only missing the head slot.

He had three set pieces of the Forest Guard Set Equipment for Tier 1 Rangers.

He now had three set pieces of the Brave Heart Set Equipment for Tier 1 s.h.i.+eld Warriors.

He had two set pieces of the Ghost Set Equipment for Tier 1 Cursemancers.

He also had three set pieces of the Angel Wings Set Equipment for Tier 1 Clerics.

By now, s.h.i.+ Feng was close to completing the Tier 1 Set Equipment for the majority of the available cla.s.ses. It would not be long before he completed them. At that time, if he led a team of players geared in Tier 1 Set Equipment into a large-scale Team Dungeon, who could possibly compete with Zero Wing to obtain First Clears?

Just the thought excited s.h.i.+ Feng. With such equipment, they could steamroll through even a 100-man Team Dungeon, let alone a 50-man Team Dungeon.

Just as s.h.i.+ Feng was arranging his new items, he suddenly discovered a glowing purple tablet inside his bag, his chest constricting upon this discovery.