Chapter 980 – New City

....

“Taking over Holy Hymn City?” Red Frost thought Shi Feng was joking with her when she heard his question. With a wry smile, she said, “Guild Leader Black Flame, I am not trying to cast doubt on Zero Wing’s strength, but taking control of a first-tier mobile city, let alone a top-ranking first-tier city, is not easy.

“Setting aside whether the Great Commander and Holy Dragon Spear’s other executives will be interested, the family corporations financially supporting the adventurer team will never allow such an action. Every top-ranking first-tier city in the Greater World has existed for a long time. Virtually every power and family based in such a city has a vested interest in the city’s prosperity.

“Should Holy Dragon Spear try to monopolize Holy Hymn City, those family corporations will stop supplying funds or resources to the adventurer team. At that time, Holy Dragon Spear will struggle to even survive, not to mention compete with the city’s other pseudo-apex powers.”

Every pseudo-apex power required an astronomical amount of money and resources to operate. While Holy Dragon Spear might be an adventurer team, it was no exception to this rule.

Unfortunately, despite having achieved great success in God’s Domain, Holy Dragon Spear still wasn’t self-sustainable. Although the adventurer team generated significant revenue from operating Guild Cities, producing and selling weapons and equipment, and accepting commissions, it still wasn’t anywhere near enough to cover the adventurer team’s operating costs.

If Holy Dragon Spear were to lose the money and resources of Holy Hymn City’s corporations, many of its members would no longer be able to afford to live in Holy Hymn City. And if Holy Dragon Spear were to lose these members, how was it supposed to compete with Holy Hymn City’s other pseudo-apex powers?

Of course, it had to be said that it was the dream of all pseudo-apex powers to monopolize a top-ranking first-tier city. This could even be considered one of the prerequisites to becoming an apex power. After all, if a power could freely dictate a top-ranking first-tier city’s policies, it would have a much easier time attracting geniuses and paragons of the younger generation. This, in turn, would qualitatively enhance the power’s growth.

However, a power could monopolize a top-ranking first-tier city only if it did not have any competition. Otherwise, other powers could always interfere with the city’s management through the city legion. Although a power could also take control of a city by filling the entire city legion with its geniuses and paragons, achieving such a feat was nothing but a pipe dream.

Hence, the only realistic way to achieve such a monopoly was by pressuring the competition into relinquishing control over the city. And the only way to do so was by murdering the opponent’s forces in God’s Domain until the opponent submitted, which was a task that demanded a lot of manpower and resources.

There were as many as four pseudo-apex powers based in Holy Hymn City. The adventurer team was outnumbered three-to-one. Should Holy Hymn City decide to wage war against these pseudo-apex powers, its expenditure would shoot through the roof.

“Since those family corporations won’t offer their support, Zero Wing will provide all the funds and resources Holy Dragon Spear needs,” Shi Feng said, unsurprised by Red Frost’s explanation. He knew that wars between powers were primarily fueled by money. “How much are Holy Dragon Spear’s monthly operating costs?”

Zero Wing’s development was already close to reaching a bottleneck. Originally, Shi Feng had considered advancing Star Lake City into a first-tier mobile city to help Zero Wing break through this bottleneck. However, if Zero Wing could gain control over a top-ranking first-tier city like Holy Hymn City, it would stand to benefit much more.

Under normal circumstances, Zero Wing could never occupy Holy Hymn City. But now that a rift had formed between Holy Dragon Spear’s executives and family corporations[1], the situation created an excellent opportunity for Zero Wing to do so.

“Holy Dragon Spear has far fewer internal members than other pseudo-apex powers. We have about three million internal members, many of whom live in Holy Hymn City,” Red Frost said after pondering Shi Feng’s question. “The members in Holy Hymn City are paid an average monthly salary of 30,000 Star Coins, which translates to a monthly expenditure of 90 billion Star Coins for the adventurer team.

“However, the Star Coin expenditure is only a minor issue. The real problem is the Life Potion consumption. Our 200,000 elite combat members receive upwards of 30 bottles of Life Potion a month. Including the consumption of our Master Lifestyle Players, the adventurer team consumes about 15 million bottles of Life Potion a month.”

“A monthly expenditure of 90 billion Star Coins and 15 million bottles of Life Potion?” Shi Feng was astonished by the numbers Red Frost reported. He felt that Holy Dragon Spear’s expenditure was incredibly high.

Zero Wing only paid its internal members a monthly salary of 10,000 Star Coins. Even so, this was already considered very high in Star Lake City. After all, this was a salary that the average person could only obtain by becoming a reserve member of a city legion. Yet, Holy Dragon Spear offered its internal members three times that amount. Not to mention, Holy Dragon Spear’s internal member count exceeded Zero Wing’s by more than tenfold.

Suddenly, Shi Feng understood why Holy Dragon Spear still needed financial support despite occupying Flame Vein Holy City. The adventurer team’s expenditure simply wasn’t something the average power could afford.

“These are only Holy Dragon Spear’s normal operating costs. If Holy Dragon Spear wages war against Holy Hymn City’s three other pseudo-apex powers in God’s Domain, I wouldn’t be surprised if its expenditure doubled—at the very least,” Red Frost said, looking at Shi Feng’s astonished expression. Then, she advised, “Holy Dragon Spear’s Life Potion consumption is something even the adventurer team itself cannot afford without assistance. I suggest Zero Wing prioritize preparing for the Nebula Consortium’s retaliation. The Nebula Consortium secretly holds shares in many apex and pseudo-apex powers. Should the Nebula Consortium have them take action, Zero Wing’s expenditure will undoubtedly skyrocket.

“Regarding the Eternal Realm’s passage, I will gather a group of experts in my name to establish a new safe route. Although the efficiency will be lower, accomplishing it shouldn’t be difficult.”

In Red Frost’s opinion, Zero Wing’s success in the Eternal Realm still wasn’t enough to let it support Holy Dragon Spear, an organization more than ten times its size.

Not to mention, once Ember Dragon reported back to the Nebula Consortium, the consortium would most likely begin its persecution of Zero Wing. Once that happened, even with its absolute control over Star Lake City, Zero Wing would likely have difficulty purchasing resources such as Life Potions from other powers and corporations. At that time, Zero Wing would be fortunate if it could secure enough Life Potions to support itself, let alone to support Holy Dragon Spear.

“That won’t be necessary,” Shi Feng said, shaking his head. “If I can gather the necessary funds and resources, are you confident you can convince Great Commander South Lake to take action, Commander Frost?”

“If you can get the funds and resources, I am 90% sure I can convince him,” Red Frost answered, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes. “But is it really worthwhile for Zero Wing to do such a thing? I understand Ember Dragon; he is a vengeful bastard who will jump at any opportunity to take revenge. Zero Wing will definitely have to waste a lot of money and resources fighting the Nebula Consortium. Once Holy Dragon Spear goes to war, should Zero Wing run out of funds, it would spell the end for Zero Wing…”

The benefits of monopolizing a top-ranking first-tier mobile city might be tempting, but once a war between powers began, it couldn’t be stopped on a whim. Should Zero Wing run out of funds while the war was ongoing, only death awaited Zero Wing.

It hadn’t been easy for Zero Wing to achieve its current success. Now that it was facing the Nebula Consortium’s wrath, Red Frost couldn’t understand why Shi Feng would want to make such a risky decision.

“Ninety percent, is it?” At Red Frost’s answer, Shi Feng smiled and said, “I’ll gather the funds as soon as possible and contact you when I’m ready.”

After saying so, Shi Feng returned to his room and logged into God’s Domain.

If it were before obtaining the Inferior Legendary Siege Weapon Firmament and the Divine Pathstone, Shi Feng wouldn’t have made such a risky decision. But now that Zero Wing had a new city and the Divine Pathstone, it could easily obtain the funds and resources needed to fund Holy Dragon Spear’s war. Zero Wing could even use this opportunity to further strengthen itself.

…

TL Notes:

[1]a rift had formed between Holy Dragon Spear’s executives and family corporations: I’m assuming this rift is referring to the family corporations putting pressure on South Lake to cut ties with Zero Wing. [The family corporations did so because of the Nebula Consortium’s interference.]