Red Leaf Town, Fountain Square.
The sun was setting, and a faint crimson glow bathed the entire square. Many lifestyle players had set up snack stalls beside the pool, selling some of God's Domain's unique delicacies.
These snacks tasted delicious—far better than food in the real world—and cost only two or three copper coins. They were truly good value for money.
After a hard day of fighting, many players came here to rest and sample God's Domain's cuisine. After all, they could earn dozens of copper coins a day, and even after expenses, still have more than ten left. They could certainly afford to treat themselves.
Quite a few couples sat chatting on the stone benches, enjoying the lovely moment as they ate the snacks they had bought.
Suddenly, every player in Red Leaf Town received a system message.
System: A player has triggered a special scenario, initiating the "Murloc Riot" scenario. Red Leaf Town's subjugation quest is now available. Players can visit the Adventurer's Guild to accept the quest. Completing it will earn generous rewards and Guild Reputation.
All the players were instantly thrilled. Quests were scarce in Red Leaf Town, yet here was a subjugation quest with generous rewards. It was almost too good to believe.
"Who's so amazing that they managed to trigger a special scenario?"
The player who had triggered it became the focus of Red Leaf Town's attention. Everyone could imagine that this player had gained a great deal. After all, triggering a scenario was incredibly rare. How could the rewards not be generous?
Quite a few players began plotting to kill the player who had triggered the scenario quest. Unfortunately, the system announcement hadn't revealed that player's name.
Compared to the ordinary players, the major guilds were already in an uproar. At this stage, apart from clearing dungeons, there were no quests that granted Guild Reputation.
Guild Reputation was a necessary requirement for upgrading a guild. If a guild could reach Level 2 ahead of the others, it would gain the corresponding guild benefits and pull far ahead of its rivals.
It wasn't just Red Leaf Town, either. Several towns around Red Water Lake had received the same system notification, and the major guilds had begun making plans to subjugate the murlocs.
Meanwhile, Shi Feng, the one responsible for triggering the scenario, was sitting in the Auction House.
The Auction House was extremely convenient. Anything a player listed could be seen and purchased not only throughout Red Leaf Town, but also in the hundreds of towns and small cities under White River City's jurisdiction. However, the Auction House took a hefty 5% fee, so the items listed there were generally expensive.
Still, the Auction House was undoubtedly a good place to sell things without drawing attention. God's Domain had been open for quite a while, and players had saved up a fair amount of money. The major guilds should have accumulated plenty of funds as well. If Shi Feng simply set up a stall in Red Leaf Town, it would attract too much attention, and someone like Flame Tiger might target him again.
More importantly, too few players in Red Leaf Town could afford to buy his items, so he wouldn't get a good price. Competition from hundreds of towns was an entirely different matter.
Shi Feng listed a Mystic Iron Grade plate armor piece with a starting price of 25 silver, along with five Bronze Grade pieces of equipment. The starting price for the plate armor was 3 silver, while the others were 2 silver each. These were all items his party couldn't use. As for the Level 10 Adamantite Grade greatsword, listing it would be too shocking. The weapon was worth at least two gold, or 200 silver. At a time when even 1 silver was precious, who could afford it?
Shi Feng then searched his inventory on the translucent screen. The backpack he'd been given at the start had only 100 slots, which was nowhere near enough for him. Each player could equip up to seven backpacks, so he bought six of the largest ones currently available. Each had 25 slots and cost 40 copper, making the total 240 copper. Ordinary players definitely couldn't afford them, but for Shi Feng, it was pocket change.
Once he had equipped all six backpacks, his storage space had increased considerably.
Shi Feng then left the Auction House and set up a stall not far away. He had no interest in the scenario quest he'd triggered.
He was already full and satisfied. He might as well let the others have a taste of the rewards instead of competing with them.
"Buying Magic Essence and stone materials in bulk! Six copper per stack of Magic Essence, ten copper per stack of stone materials!" Shi Feng shouted.
At this stage, Magic Essence was one of the materials used to train Enchanting, while stone materials were used in Engineering. However, many monsters from Level 0 to Level 3 dropped them, so they weren't worth much. The guild players could fully supply their guild's lifestyle players with the materials they collected, so guilds never bought them. Ordinary players only bought a little now and then.
But countless players still had Magic Essence and stone materials they couldn't get rid of. They usually sold them cheaply to NPCs. One stack of 20 vials of Magic Essence sold for only 5 copper, while one stack of 100 pieces of stone sold for just 9 copper. Shi Feng was offering 1 copper more than the NPCs, so naturally, many players were happy to sell to him. An extra copper per stack still added up to a decent sum.
Magic Essence was essential for crafting Guardian Armor. In addition, the armor required large quantities of Copper Ore and Bronze Ore, both of which were scarce. The major guilds were buying them in bulk, but it was difficult to find enough.
Shi Feng had originally planned to mine the ores himself. However, with the Philosopher's Stone, ores were no longer a problem. The Philosopher's Stone had the ability of Elemental Refining, which meant it could refine stone materials and had a high chance of producing ore, even rare ore. He had no need to mine ores himself. Stone materials were dirt cheap, and nearly ten thousand players had become his hired hands.
Soon, a large crowd of players gathered in front of Shi Feng.
"Big brother, I've got six stacks of Magic Essence. Will you buy them?"
"I've got three stacks of stone materials. Do you want them?"
Many players began asking, worried that Shi Feng would run out of money. There was so much Magic Essence and so many stone materials around that it felt like a waste to sell them to NPCs, but nobody else would buy them, so players just left them in their bags.
"I'll take it all. Just trade with me directly," Shi Feng said.
Shi Feng had accumulated quite a bit of wealth already, and his deal with Bai Qingxue had added to it. He had more than enough money to buy a large amount of Magic Essence and stone materials.
In no time, one player had sold him three stacks of Magic Essence, another had sold him five stacks of stone materials, and Shi Feng had quickly bought 60 stacks of Magic Essence and 85 stacks of stone materials. He had less than ten copper left.
"Sorry, I've bought all I can," Shi Feng said, packing up his stall and explaining.
Many players who had come to sell Magic Essence and stone materials immediately looked disappointed.
"Big brother, will you buy more later?" one player asked.
"I will, but not for a while. You can save yours until then," Shi Feng replied with certainty. The Magic Essence and stone materials he'd bought so far weren't nearly enough to help him advance to Advanced Forging Apprentice.
After leaving the commercial street, Shi Feng arrived at the Blacksmith Association and spent 5 copper to rent a basic forging room for one hour.
A basic forging room came fully equipped, so there was no need to buy tools. A mid-level forging room cost a lot more, but it could increase success rates by 3% and cost 1 silver per hour. The town had no advanced forging rooms; those were only available in cities, and their prices were exorbitant.