In the real world, the sky gradually darkened as the sun set below the horizon, but in the Divine Realm, every player greeted the rising dawn.
Red Leaf Town was ablaze with light, as bright as day. The Trade District was teeming with players coming and going—far more than the day before, with quite a few being level-zero newcomers.
After two days of open beta, the Divine Realm had already shown many people what made it different. Setting aside the multitude of enjoyable activities beyond combat, the fighting itself was captivating enough. As monsters grew in level, combat became increasingly realistic—no longer the simple turn-based affairs of old where you hit the monster once, and the monster hit you back. It felt more like real-world competitive fighting.
This was an era of nationwide fitness. In the real world, people had become obsessed with martial arts tournaments to an almost maddening degree—they were incredibly popular.
Everyone craved a good, exhilarating fight, especially against skilled opponents, chasing that rush of adrenaline and heart-pounding excitement. It was utterly addictive—and the Divine Realm had all of it, without any real danger to life.
Moreover, the Divine Realm offered thrilling, daring adventures, with countless unknowns waiting to be discovered and explored. Add to that the doubled life duration, and it was no wonder so many players wished they could spend their entire lives inside the Divine Realm, living out their second life.
This, in turn, attracted a massive influx of players. As more and more virtual game companies saw this irreversible trend, they declared bankruptcy one after another, preparing to enter the Divine Realm to develop their businesses. Players who didn't want to abandon their old games had no choice but to enter the Divine Realm, causing its player count to surge.
Shi Feng had just returned to Red Leaf Town when he received a flood of system notifications.
Almost all of them were auction house sale notifications. In one go, he had acquired over five hundred silver coins—equivalent to five gold coins.
He remembered that not long ago, he had listed three gold coins on the virtual trading platform. In just a single day, he had another five gold coins to his name. Nearly all of it had come from guilds that had painstakingly acquired those items, only to end up contributing everything to him.
Right now, in the entire White River City region, there probably wasn't a single player wealthier than him—even the presidents of top-tier guilds couldn't compare.
But this was still just the tip of the iceberg. The real money-making was only just beginning.
Shi Feng first deposited everything from his backpack into storage, not planning to sell any of it—saving it for later use. After all, gems and skill books were hard currency that would never depreciate. Equipment, on the other hand, lost value quickly as players' levels increased.
Next, Shi Feng went back to his old trade. Night was the best time for doing business, and since dawn was approaching, he decided to put tasks aside for now and set up a street stall, buying up stones, magic essence, sturdy stones, and decks.
Since Shi Feng had purchased these materials several times before, many players had intentionally held onto them, waiting for him to come buy. Now, one shout from Shi Feng and a crowd of players would come rushing over.
And so Shi Feng collected materials while listening to the players at nearby stalls chat.
"The Assassin Alliance really made a name for themselves this time—they completed the Murloc Uprising quest and earned a lot of guild prestige. It won't be long before the Assassin Alliance can rank up to a level-two guild."
"That's nothing. I heard something big happened in the Royal City region. The president of the top-tier guild, Star River Federation, completed a major quest and has been promoted to first-class citizen—just a step away from nobility. Once he has noble status, what does a bit of guild prestige matter? With nobility, he can walk into the military camp or city hall anytime to pick up guild quests and surpass the Assassin Alliance in no time. Plus, the numerous privileges that come with nobility give advantages beyond imagination. Even now, Star River Federation is already suppressing Snake of the Body. When the time comes for the Royal City struggle, it'll probably fall into Star River Federation's hands."
"Nothing you said compares to the hottest story right now—the showdown between Blacksmith Black Flame and Yichui Maimai."
"Who doesn't know about that? There's probably no one in the entire White River City region who hasn't heard. I really didn't expect it to be decided so quickly, and I especially didn't expect Yichui Maimai to win in the end. Heh, fortunately I was clever enough to borrow money and buy a Gleaming Breastplate. That thing is being offered at high prices by many buyers now—I can make three silver coins just by flipping it."
"Exactly. The Gleaming Breastplate is awesome in both stats and appearance. The production cost must be enormous. To compete with Yichui Maimai, it was sold at such a low price—running a loss like that couldn't be sustained. In the end, they couldn't hold on and lost. It's a pity there's not a single one left for sale now, or I'd borrow money to buy one too. Yichui Maimai is on top of the world right now—incredibly impressive, with a reputation that's through the roof. He's even been bashing the mysterious blacksmith on the forums, calling him a coward and a turtle's grandson who doesn't dare compete. He's smug as can be. Those top-tier guilds, wanting to boost their visibility and influence, will definitely be inviting him. Yichui Maimai must be in contract negotiations already."
"Chief blacksmith of a top-tier guild—just thinking about that position makes your mouth water. But all we can do is envy. If only we had the design for Bronze Equipment. Even if I had to go bankrupt, I'd compete against Yichui Maimai. Get that chief position at a top-tier guild, and the future would be nothing but glory—fancy cars and beautiful women, your pick."
Hearing this, Shi Feng furrowed his brow slightly and pulled up the official forum.
Sure enough, Yichui Maimai was hurling all kinds of ridicule and insults at him.
*"Hey, turtle's grandson, weren't you supposed to be amazing? What happened—hiding in your shell now? If you've got the guts, let's keep competing! Watch grandpa crush you, you black-hearted blacksmith."* Reading such low-level trash talk, Shi Feng smiled calmly. He had to give Yichui Maimai credit—the man was willing to go to any lengths for fame, employing every trick in the book. Just like in his previous life, when he'd sold out his entire guild to become chief blacksmith of Xiong Ba Tianxia.
After finishing his material collection, Shi Feng headed for the Auction House.
Thanks to Yichui Maimai's little stunt, the Gleaming Breastplate had become a household name. It was time to begin the next phase of his money-making plan.
At this stage, most ordinary players had reached level three, many skilled players were at level four, and quite a few top-tier players had probably hit level five. Ordinary players certainly couldn't afford the Gleaming Breastplate—only skilled players borrowing money from everywhere could scrape together enough to buy one. For top-tier players, the Gleaming Breastplate was already losing its usefulness, as the level-five dungeon dropped plenty of equipment that surpassed it.
In other words, the Gleaming Breastplate couldn't earn much more money. After all, the main buyers were guilds. Ordinary players couldn't afford it, and perhaps only the wealthiest whales would buy one for fun—but whales were exceedingly rare.
Shi Feng stepped into the Auction House. The entire hall was packed with people, so he found a quiet corner and silently opened the auction house display, uploading twenty Gleaming Breastplate design sheets at a starting price of thirty silver coins each, with one sold every half hour.
It wasn't that Shi Feng didn't want to sell them all at once—doing so would drive down the price. Only hunger marketing could maximize profits. Let the guilds fight over them at their leisure.
Afterward, Shi Feng cleared out the accumulated sturdy stones and decks from his auction house account, left the Auction House, and headed toward the Library.