Chapter 757 – Count’s Reward

Southern Region, Human NPC City, Cruise City, Demon’s Gate’s Residence:

Inside the magnificent Guild Hall, Demon’s Gate’s members were busily moving about because of the matter at Luminous Sky City. All of them exuded killing intent. Some guild members even began to organize their own teams to head to Luminous Sky City to kill Shi Feng.

Meanwhile, several of Demon’s Gate’s executives had gathered in the Residence’s Guild Leader’s Office.

“We’ve looked into the matter already, Your Highness. The person responsible for killing White Ghost is Zero Wing’s Guild Leader, Black Flame!” a white-haired Level 187, Tier 6 Berserker God anxiously reported to the elegant woman seated before him.

Despite her petite stature, the elegant woman radiated an indescribable aura of majesty with each of her movements. Her presence was so overwhelming that some of the guild executives present, including the recently resurrected White Ghost, dared not even raise their heads.

Meanwhile, when it came to their opinions of the elegant woman, all of the Demon’s Gate members based in Cruise City’s Residence felt nothing but awe and admiration toward her. This was because the woman was one of Demon’s Gate’s publicly acknowledged Three Great Chosen Ones.

Star Maiden, Elise!

Elise was also the youngest of the Three Great Chosen Ones. At only twenty-four, she had already progressed to the later stage of the World Tower’s fifth floor and could execute Gold Combat Techniques with her every move. She had also reached the Unthinking Realm, the Extrasensory Realm’s second stage, and it was entirely possible for her to break those shackles by thirty and rival the standards of Demon’s Gate’s old monsters.

“Zero Wing’s Black Flame, is it?” Elise’s lips curled into a faint smirk when she heard the white-haired Berserker’s report. “How intriguing. I haven’t even settled the score for harboring that little girl, yet he dares to come to the southern region to stir up even more trouble?”

“Black Flame has gone too far! How dare he come to our territory and kill White Ghost?! This is an insult to our reputation!” a Tier 6 female Berserker who was robust like a bear said angrily. “Your Highness, please allow me to lead a team to eliminate Black Flame! We shall let him know that even if he managed to stop the Holy Guard’s assault, he is still not qualified to behave arrogantly before Demon’s Gate!”

“Phoenix Flame is right, Your Highness! Not only did Black Flame show up in our territory by himself, but he even killed White Ghost! If we don’t teach him a lesson, we will become a joke in the Eternal Realm! People might even think we are afraid of him!”

The other guild executives chimed in as well, all of them agreeing with Phoenix Flame’s view.

Had Zero Wing mobilized an army into Luminous Sky City, and a huge fight between Zero Wing and Demon’s Gate broke out, they could still have turned a blind eye to the matter. Yet, Black Flame had dared to show up on their territory by himself. He had even publicly slain Demon’s Gate’s members in Luminous Sky City. If they still chose to ignore this transgression and take no action against Zero Wing, Demon’s Gate’s reputation in the southern region would be utterly ruined.

“He is a Count. It isn’t worth trying to kill him in Luminous Sky City,” Elise said, shaking her head. Then, she casually added, “Inform the various powers in the World Ark that we will be opening up our resurrection camp in the core region and that they can register at the camp by eliminating Zero Wing’s members. For each normal member they kill, they can register at the camp for one day at no cost. For slaying Zero Wing’s elite members, they receive three days of free registration. And if they manage to kill an executive of Zero Wing, they gain lifetime registration at the camp.”

Elise’s decision startled all of the guild executives present.

Ruthless!

It was an incredibly ruthless decision!

It should be known that Demon’s Gate had to sacrifice multiple Divine Artifact-ranked tools to occupy the resurrection camp it currently owned in the World Ark’s core region. Moreover, Demon’s Gate’s members hadn’t even begun to fully reap the benefits of the resurrection camp. If the camp was made available to the public now, it was almost guaranteed that players would do everything possible to secure a registration slot. Consequently, Zero Wing would not only lose the ability to survive in the World Ark, but it would also lose the resurrection camp it had fought hard to defend. If met with such an outcome, Black Flame, the Guild Leader of Zero Wing, would most likely lose his mind.

Subsequently, Demon’s Gate’s executives left the office and carried out Elise’s instructions, issuing a public bounty on all Zero Wing members operating within the World Ark and causing a huge stir.

…

In the meantime, Shi Feng arrived at Luminous Sky City’s City Hall all by himself.

Currently, Luminous Sky City’s City Hall was crowded with players from both the human race and the Holy Race. These players were here on behalf of their respective powers, and they were all eagerly waiting for the City Hall to make more shops and lands available for sale. Of course, as none of them were nobles, none of them were actually here to buy real estate. Instead, they were only here to determine the value of the real estate on offer and how much they should spend on bidding for them in the future.

The sale of real estate in the Eternal Realm’s Neutral Cities was different from that of Neutral Cities in other Realms.

Outside of the Eternal Realm, players could usually purchase the shops and lands of Neutral Cities on a first come, first served basis. The prices of these real estate were also fixed, and they would only change when the city was promoted.

In the Eternal Realm, however, the shops and lands of Neutral Cities were acquired through auctions. Once players proved themselves capable of affording the base price of a particular piece of real estate, they were given a bidding period where they had to outbid other interested buyers. In addition, as players from both the human race and the Holy Race could participate in the auction, the final price typically far exceeded the base price.

Due to this system, players and powers interested in buying Luminous Sky City’s real estate had to first determine how much Eternal Coins would be appropriate to allocate to each piece of real estate. If the final cost exceeded the potential profits they could generate, they would have no choice but to give up. Hence, while no one had yet to gain noble status in Luminous Sky City, the powers of both races seized this opportunity to assess the city’s real estate prices to make informed bids when the time arrived.

Of course, there existed the possibility that certain players might gain the privilege of acquiring the city’s real estate considerably earlier than others. However, even if this were to occur, these players would not necessarily secure an insurmountable advantage in purchasing the city’s real estate. This was because some of the city’s NPC Nobles would typically participate in the bidding process alongside players. If players could not outbid these NPC Nobles, their attempts to acquire the real estate would be unsuccessful, regardless of whether other players were competing against them.

“Shop 0046742! Is anybody interested in co-buying Shop 0046742?”

“Trading Secret-Silver Warships for Eternal Coins! Each for 100,000 Gold! We have three in total! We’ll even cover the handling fees for foreign players!”

“Advanced Transport Ships for sale! Two Advanced Transport Ships for sale! Each for 80,000 Gold! They’re essential for grinding and transporting goods! I can cover the auction fees of both ships!”

Within the vast first-floor hall, capable of accommodating tens of thousands of people, shouts echoed from every corner.

When Shi Feng heard the ceaseless shouting, he couldn’t help but be astonished.

Although none of the various powers had acquired the qualifications to purchase Luminous Sky City’s real estate yet, all of them were doing everything they could to accumulate capital. Meanwhile, compared to the wealth these powers were amassing, the 70,000-plus Eternal Gold he currently had on hand was nothing. It was especially so when he compared himself with the Holy Race’s various powers. Currently, not only did Holy Race players make up the bulk of those hawking their wares, but they were also going as far as to sell Advanced Transport Ships, which were incredibly valuable in the current Eternal Realm.

Thank goodness I don’t have to compete with them. After looking at the situation in the first-floor hall, Shi Feng quietly made his way to the second-floor hall.

…

Inside a VIP lounge on the second floor…

“Greetings, Lord Count. How may I be of service to you today?”

After Shi Feng made his way to the second floor, he was ushered into a VIP lounge and greeted by a beautiful female elf.

“I am looking to buy real estate,” Shi Feng stated directly.

“Very well. Here is a list of all the shops and lands you can currently bid for in the city,” the elven administrator said as she handed Shi Feng a crystal tablet.

The tablet was roughly the size of an A4 paper, but it listed an astonishing number of shops and lands. The number was many times greater than what was listed on the first-floor hall.

Can my status actually grant me so many options? Shi Feng was slightly surprised as he examined the information on the tablet. However, when his gaze fell upon a specific line of text highlighted in bright red, his shock intensified. An upscale shop!

TL Notes:
[1]upscale shop:
In the main story, shop ranks listed were:

In Chapter 757 and 758, the shops mentioned were:

The characters used to describe the shops are different, so I assume that the ordinary/normal shops in the Eternal Realm’s Neutral Cities cannot be upgraded into high-end/upscale shops. So, rather than go with Basic/Advanced Shop, I decided to use a different term here.

…