Chapter 978 – Ember Dragon’s Identity

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“Guild Leader, is it necessary for you to escort that pedestal yourself?” Blackie asked, confused when he saw Shi Feng tagging along with the transport carriages.

Many items in Evil Sky City’s treasury were non-bag space items. Some couldn’t even be stored in bags with non-bag space item slots and could only be transported using manpower. The stone pedestal in the treasury was one of these items.

Although Blackie already knew what the pedestal was and agreed that its ability to create a permanent pathway to another world was valuable, he still didn’t think the Divine Pathstone was worth anywhere near as much as the combined value of the God Crystals, Holy Origin Crystals, and Fragmented Divine Artifacts in the treasury.

In Blackie’s opinion, even if Evil Nature were to send people to snatch back its items, it’d prioritize the Fragmented Divine Artifacts and Holy Origin Crystals. After all, these were items that could increase the overall strength of any power by a large margin.

“You don’t get it.” Shi Feng chuckled as he looked ahead at the horse carriage carrying the Divine Pathstone. “The true value of that pedestal far exceeds the combined value of everything else in that treasury. Evil Nature might really go all out to retrieve it.”

Tier 7!

For many expert players in God’s Domain, whether they were from the human race, the Crystallian race, or the Holy Race, it was their dream and goal to reach Tier 7. However, no matter how much effort the various powers and players had put in, nobody from the three races had ever reached Tier 7.

The reason for this was that the Tier 7 promotion was too difficult. Just like how some players could never advance past Tier 4, Tier 5, and Tier 6, not just anyone could reach Tier 7. They needed to have the necessary opportunities, talent, Legacies, etc. Furthermore, as nobody from the three races had ever reached Tier 7, the players of the three races didn’t have any experiences they could draw on to lower the difficulty of their Tier 7 promotion.

However, while the three races might not have any players who had reached Tier 7 before, it wasn’t necessarily the case for other races.

If one could use the Divine Pathstone to connect to a world with Tier 7 players, one could increase the probability of promotion to Tier 7 for Tier 6 players. After all, compared to challenging the Tier 7 promotion with zero information, players would undoubtedly have an easier time if they had a pioneer’s experience as reference.

Of course, finding a player world where Tier 7 players existed was not easy. The Divine Pathstone needed a world’s precise coordinates to connect to it. Otherwise, the pathway could not be established.

In Shi Feng’s opinion, Evil Nature likely did not know the coordinates of any player world with Tier 7 players. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have kept the Divine Pathstone in its treasury but used it instead. It also wouldn’t waste time competing over Primordial God-ranked Legacies in the Eternal Realm. After all, the personal experience of a Tier 7 player was much more useful than the vague clues hidden in these Primordial God-ranked Legacies.

…

After four hours of traveling by horse carriage, Shi Feng safely deposited the Divine Pathstone into Zero Wing’s Guild Warehouse. Just as he was about to visit the primordial civilization city, he suddenly received an offline call from Red Frost. When the call connected, he was greeted by a gloomy expression.

“Seeing as you are contacting me from the real world, did something happen at the passage?” Shi Feng asked after Red Frost remained silent despite having taken the initiative to contact him.

Red Frost was the Holy Dragon Spear adventurer team’s representative, and she was currently tasked with overseeing the exploration of the passage into the Eternal Realm. It was of significant importance to the current Zero Wing that a safe route through the passage was established.

Once Zero Wing had a safe route into the Eternal Realm, it could be used to strengthen Zero Wing’s foundations and solve the Guild’s lack of elite experts.

Zero Wing could more or less be considered a Guild that had been established following the birth of the Eternal Realm. Its foundations were much weaker than that of most other powers operating in the Eternal Realm.

As a result, Zero Wing could only operate in a small area during the Eternal Realm’s birth. In contrast, the various major powers operated in many NPC Cities simultaneously, which enabled them to secure Residences and raise their popularity in these NPC Cities. With these advantages, they could attract independent experts to join them much more easily.

Although Zero Wing currently had Shadowring Town to boost its popularity, the number of players the town could attract was nowhere near that of NPC Cities. Hence, Zero Wing was still limited in the number of experts it could recruit.

However, once Zero Wing had a safe route in and out of the Eternal Realm, it would no longer have to worry about recruiting experts. It could simply send its existing members to the Greater God’s Domain to level up quickly. At that time, these Zero Wing members would become combat-ready experts, and Zero Wing’s growth would no longer be stifled by its lack of experts.

“The exploration of the passage is progressing smoothly,” Red Frost said, shaking her head. Then, in a low voice, she continued, “But for some reason, the Great Commander, who has been very supportive of me, suddenly wants to sever Holy Dragon Spear’s partnership with Zero Wing. Moreover, Holy Dragon Spear isn’t alone in this decision. The other pseudo-apex powers share similar sentiments.”

“Sever our partnership? Do they not want to level up in the secret land anymore?” Shi Feng was stunned by this news.

Although the partnership between Zero Wing and the Primordial Dragon Sanctuary’s pseudo-apex powers favored Zero Wing a lot, it remained that Holy Dragon Spear and the other pseudo-apex powers could reliably get their members to Level 240 thanks to this partnership.

Without the Access Key in his possession, even if these pseudo-apex powers managed to get their members into the Flame Dragon God’s Nest, these members would have to die if they wanted to leave the secret land; they wouldn’t be able to exit normally. This definitely wasn’t a wise move.

As for Zero Wing, it would also be negatively affected. Without Holy Dragon Spear establishing a safe route into the Eternal Realm, Zero Wing could not send players to grind in the Flame Dragon God’s Nest en masse, severely restricting Zero Wing’s development speed.

“I’ve already mentioned this to the Great Commander and the others, but they still insist on cutting ties with Zero Wing…,” Red Frost said with an ugly expression. “Additionally, Ember Dragon suddenly came to me, saying he wants to discuss something important with you in person.”

“Ember Dragon?” Shi Feng was even more surprised to hear this.

Shi Feng didn’t have many dealings with Ember Dragon, so it was strange for the other party to visit Star Lake City to talk to him in person. He’d be less surprised if Ember Dragon had come to talk to Red Frost. After all, they shared a long-standing feud.

“Do you want to talk to him?” Red Frost asked.

“Since he’s here, let’s talk,” Shi Feng said, deciding to meet with Ember Dragon after thinking it over.

Shi Feng was certain the Dragon God Palace had something to do with Holy Dragon Spear and the Primordial Dragon Sanctuary’s other pseudo-apex powers’ decision to cut ties with Zero Wing. However, Shi Feng couldn’t determine what the Dragon God Palace had done to make its past enemies turn against Zero Wing.

…

Half an hour later, Shi Feng met Ember Dragon in one of the Zero Wing Training Center’s lounges. Ember Dragon was a tall and lanky man with a sickly appearance. However, despite his appearance, he gave off an indescribably dangerous vibe.

If not for Red Frost entering the lounge with Ember Dragon, Shi Feng might have even considered leaving immediately.

“I finally get to meet you, Guild Leader Black Flame,” Ember Dragon said, giving Shi Feng a business smile. “This should be our first time meeting in the real world. I am Ember Dragon, a Vice Guild Leader of the Dragon God Palace.”

“Seeing as you’ve gone through the trouble of meeting me here, I assume you are behind Holy Dragon Spear and the other pseudo-apex powers’ decision to cut ties with Zero Wing,” Shi Feng stated frankly, looking at Ember Dragon. Compared to how he carried himself in God’s Domain, Ember Dragon conducted himself with much less dignity in the real world. “Just say whatever you have to say.”

“You are a very straightforward person, Guild Leader Black Flame. But I like straightforward people,” Ember Dragon said, replacing his business smile with a cold expression. “In that case, I’ll get to the point. I am not visiting you on behalf of the Dragon God Palace but the Nebula Consortium.”

“The Nebula Consortium?” Ember Dragon’s words stunned Red Frost. Staring at him in disbelief, she asked in a quivering voice, “You’re a member of the Nebula Consortium?”

Shi Feng frowned at Ember Dragon’s introduction. He had heard about the Nebula Consortium in his previous life. Although he didn’t know much about it, he did know it was an extraordinary entity with shares in several human apex powers, such as the notorious Demon’s Gate and the mysterious Eternal Chamber of Commerce.

At the same time, the Nebula Consortium was the main producer of Stardew. Because of this, many corporations, conglomerates, and even City Lords of first-tier cities sought to get into the Nebula Consortium’s good graces.

Ignoring Red Frost’s question, Ember Dragon sneered at Shi Feng and said, “In light of Zero Wing ruining the hard-earned peace between the human race and the Holy Race, the Nebula Consortium hopes to put Zero Wing under its supervision. To achieve this goal, the Nebula Consortium will send someone to assist with Zero Wing’s management. Should Zero Wing refuse to be supervised, it will no longer be permitted to continue operating henceforth.”

“Hasn’t the Nebula Consortium been indifferent to God’s Domain this whole time?” Red Frost grew anxious at Ember Dragon’s words.

Many corporations and conglomerates relied on the Nebula Consortium in the Greater World. If the Nebula Consortium decided to persecute Zero Wing, Zero Wing would face many difficulties moving forward, such as not being able to purchase the Life Potions necessary for the Guild’s development. Not to mention, there was no saying what action the various powers, which sought to enter the Nebula Consortium’s good graces, would do against Zero Wing.

“I am only here to convey the Nebula Consortium’s message. There is nothing I can do to change the Nebula Consortium’s decision,” Ember Dragon said, glancing at Red Frost. Then, he smirked at Shi Feng and continued, “I advise you not to make an enemy of the Nebula Consortium, Guild Leader Black Flame. Even if you’ve managed to get an apex power to back you, the consequences will still be unbearable for you.”

“Ruined the peace between the human race and the Holy Race? Unbearable consequences?” Shi Feng smiled as he looked at Ember Dragon’s elated expression. “Since you are acting as the Nebula Consortium’s messenger, please convey my message to Nebula’s higher-ups: You similarly cannot bear the consequences of making an enemy out of Zero Wing!”

…