Chapter 966 – Zero Wing Alone Is Enough


    World Ark, Shadowring Town:


    “Guild Leader, here are thetest reports on the Guild’s ie and expansion progress. I’ve also included reports on the recent state of the war,” ckie said, wearily cing a stack of papers onto Shi Feng’s desk.


    “This many?” As Shi Feng perused the documents ckie had prepared, he was reminded of ckie’s managerial talent. ckie’s attention to detail was unquestionably superior to that ofbat-oriented Vice Guild Leaders like Hidden Soul and Gentle Snow.


    The data ckiepiled not only listed the Guild’s various revenue sources in detail but also provided rmendations for expanding them to allow the Guild to maximize the use of its Eternal Coins. He had also categorized the Guild’s newly recruited members so that they could be put into roles that best utilized their talents.


    For example, some experts were more adept at usingbat techniques, while others were more adept at using Skills and Spells. Even if these experts had simrbat standards, their performances in battle would differ depending on their assigned roles and opponents.


    Besides that, Zero Wing managed to attract many fifth-floor experts to join it thanks to the 10,000 Level 235 Taboo Fragmented Legendary Equipment that Shi Feng had obtained from Dragon’s Crown. Currently, Zero Wing already had nearly 2,000 fifth-floor experts under itsmand.


    Even before the Tower of the Abyss’s appearance, only a few pseudo-apex powers coulde up with a force of nearly 2,000 fifth-floor experts. The only problem was that most of Zero Wing’s fifth-floor experts were under Level 230. As for those who were Level 230 or above, there were only 106 of them, and they primarily consisted of yers from the Greater God’s Domain who had entered the Eternal Realm by luck.


    All 106 yers were fully equipped with Level 235 Taboo Fragmented Legendary Equipment. Paired with the Behemoth Set (a Combat-ranked Secret Treasure Set) and the Intermediate Divine Strengthening Scrolls that ckie had distributed to them, they could barely match the standards of the various powers’ Level 235-plus elite experts.


    Currently, excluding the main force members operating in the me Dragon God’s Nest, these 106 yers were the strongest members of Zero Wing. They also yed a crucial role in ensuring the development of Zero Wing’s members in the World Ark. If not for them, Zero Wing’s members would be easy prey for the Holy Race’s elite experts. A few elite experts from the Holy Race would be enough to ughter a 100-man team of Zero Wing members under Level 230.


    Even so, these 106 yers could, at most, let 50,000 of Zero Wing’s Level 225-plus elite members[1] safely grind in the Taboo Maps around the Blood Curse Resurrection Camp. As for the Guild’s more numerous normal and internal members, they had no choice but to fend for themselves. After all, the World Ark’s Taboo Maps were limited in size and number. This madepetition in these maps extremely intense, making securing even a small leveling spot challenging.


    Moreover, it wasrgely thanks to the Seven Luminaries Alliance, the Red Dragon Nation, and Azure Fang that Zero Wing could have its current leveling spots in the World Ark’s core area. Otherwise, Zero Wing would be fortunate if it could even upy a 10,000-man leveling spot.


    However, the biggest change Zero Wing experienced during this period was to its ie. Originally, Zero Wing earned at least 300 million units of Seven Luminaries Crystal and 800,000 Eternal Gold daily through Shadowring Town. But now, Shadowring Town wasn’t generating even one-third of those amounts, and these numbers were still falling by the day…


    “Does Evil Nature’s interference have such a huge impact?” Shi Feng was surprised by the sharp drop in the Guild’s ie.


    “Yes, it’s affecting us massively,” ckie sighed, nodding. “It might have been fine if it were only Evil Nature harassing us since Evil Nature only has a limited number of elite experts operating in the World Ark. But after Evil Nature constructed its Guild City, it ced a bounty on all yers entering and leaving Shadowring Town.


    “Evil Nature is rewarding each kill with one Eternal Gold and one merit point. Merit points can be used to redeem items from Evil Nature. The more merit points a yer umtes, the better the items they can redeem. With 1,000 merit points, yers can redeem Fragmented Divine Artifacts, Advanced Gold Holy Arts, and even permanent priority ess to all of Evil Nature’s Guild Towns and Cities.


    “This bounty has sparked a frenzy among the Holy Race yers in the World Ark. They are targeting every yer caught entering or leaving Shadowring Town, including Holy Race yers. This situation has scared many yers from visiting Shadowring Town. Now, only the experts of powers affiliated with Zero Wing dare toe. If not for Holy Ring City’s NPC patrols, those people would have ttened Shadowring Town by now…”


    Shi Feng was astonished by this revtion. He never thought that Evil Nature would take things so far.


    It would have been nothing had Evil Nature simply ced a bounty on Zero Wing’s members. All of Zero Wing’s members getting killed once would only cost Evil Nature a few hundred thousand Eternal Gold. Even if this were repeated several times, Evil Nature would simply lose a few million Eternal Gold.


    However, it was simply ludicrous to ce a bounty on every yer caught visiting Shadowring Town. Over two million yers visited Shadowring Town daily at its peak. Even at a conservative estimate, Evil Nature would lose tens of millions of Eternal Gold just by keeping its bounty active for several days. Not even apex powers could afford such an expenditure.


    Of course, Shi Feng had to admit that Evil Nature’s ludicrous move was incredibly effective. Now, most yers entering and leaving Shadowring Town had to do so in armies. Many elite experts also had to garrison the town at all times. This restricted Zero Wing’s development and deterred many experts from joining the Guild.


    “Although the number of hunters outside the town has decreased significantly recently since everyone is upied with the core area’s Taboo Maps, Evil Nature has a 1,000-man legion of elite experts garrisoning Evil Sky City at all times. This legion will also asionally attack the armiesing and going from Shadowring Town,” ckie sighed. “Previously, Miss Aurebeth, Azure Fang’s Saintess, got fed up with the constant harassment and brought the fight to Evil Nature. But it didn’t take long before Evil Sky City mobilized three Level 230 Ancient God-ranked experts against her. Although Miss Aurebeth has already reached the sixth-floor standard, she was ultimately forced to retreat.


    “Guild Leader, with Zero Wing’s current state of development, unless we find more powers to reinforce us, there is nothing we can do about Evil Nature’s blockade. We can only watch as Shadowring Town declines.”


    In the past, ckie didn’t have much of an understanding of royal powers and only knew they were stronger than apex powers. However, as more outside yers entered the Eternal Realm, he eventually realized the fearsome might of royal powers.


    Despite Aurebeth being a Level 230 sixth-floor expert equipped with multiple Divine Artifacts, even she was no threat to Evil Nature…


    In ckie’s opinion, the only way Zero Wing could survive this ordeal was by sacrificing some of Shadowring Town’s benefits to partner with the several apex powers that had previously expressed interest in the town.


    “Finding more partners is indeed a way out.” Shi Feng nodded. Then, he chuckled and continued, “But if we are simply talking about dealing with the current Evil Nature, we don’t have to sacrifice Shadowring Town’s benefits. Zero Wing alone is enough to handle this problem.”


    …