88 2780 Become a Super Guild?

(I forgot to give credit to Xeno/Abyssal Blade on discord for the Art of War idea. Thanks mate.)

What a ruthless punishment, Shi Feng couldn't help but sigh at the system prompt.

The loss in attributes and not being able to log into the game is already frightening but the -10,000 humanity reputation points is just downright cruel.

Humanity reputation points might seem unimportant so far. They only help players gain higher status in human territories but no player has enough to notice a significant change in their status at this stage of the game.

That all changes when the gods return, they will become immensely valuable. The reason being is that god's don't care about players' noble ranking or other forms of status in the mortal world. They wouldn't even give tier 5 players a second glance.

The way to get a god to treat players who haven't reached tier 6 with any level of respect is through either certain quest, incredible accomplishments such as killing a dragon or something of the equivalent, and your humanity reputation points.

Players can even trade their humanity points for items and materials from the realm the gods secluded themselves in.

Weapons and equipment crafted with these materials are extraordinary. Most of the legendary weapons that the superpower's blacksmiths have crafted in the past were made up of a lot of those materials.

If a blacksmith makes a dark gold or epic item out of these materials, there's a high likelihood that it could rival the next rank.

Unfortunately humanity reputation points are very difficult to get. The most reliable way to get them is by obtaining the first clear of Hell mode super lager scale team dungeons.

Not even Shi Feng has managed to collect 10,000 humanity reputation points yet.

"Lord Kaiser, I accept your request," Shi Feng said. While the punishment is dangerous it won't cripple his account. Also the higher the penalty the greater the potential rewards. If he could get Canyon Cutter he can create another peerless monster in the guild.

System: Congratulations on accepting the Inferior Legendary Quest 'Search for War'. Quest content, find and complete the Art of War before the demon god's invasion in a year.

Rewards Unknown.

"Thank you adventure," Kaiser said happily. "Take this communication crystal and feed this stone to your ArchFairy. It should help her detect the pages of the Art of War when she is in proximity of them. Now excuse me I must take my leave. When you find all the pages contact me and I shall help you restore the book."

Kaiser then turned into a bolt of lightning as he disappeared from the office.

"I can't believe our guild is actually doing an inferior legendary quest! Does this mean we will get a fragmented legendary item or maybe even a legendary item!" Blue Bamboo nearly shouted, so far the highest level quests she has completed were epic rank quests, and that was with the Wind Gods Spear adventure team.

Those epic quests had rewarded bountiful rewards. One of them had even rewarded an epic shield with the potential to reach fragmented legendary rank.

Shi Feng only smiled at her. In reality an inferior legendary quest doesn't even have 20% chance of rewarding a fragmented legendary item. Epic quests don't even have a 1% chance of it too. At the very least the value of the rewards rival the value of a fragmented legendary weapon, which in some ways is actually better.

"Rain, Blue, tell Guild Leader Melody that I'll be able to meet with her after talking to the Secret Pavilion," Shi Feng told them.

As the two left to go inform the others, Yuan Tiexin, Purple Jade, and White Soul came into the office and took a seat on the sofa.

Shi Feng gave Yuan Tiexin a curious look. The reason being that Purple Jade and White Soul were staring him down like a hawk. Purple Jade looked like she would challenge him to a fight any second. +

What Shi Feng didn't know was that Purple Jade had hit a roadblock. She was practically knocking at the door of the Domain Realm but couldn't enter. Because of this she had challenged many apex experts to try to take that final step.

White Soul was also examining Shi Feng as well and he entered a cold sweat. Despite focusing all of his senses and instincts on the man, Shi Feng didn't feel dangerous at all. He felt more like a passerby.

In his opinion there are three kinds of experts in God's Domain. The first were people who constantly released their aura wanting everyone's attention and saying "look how strong I am. Fear and respect me." Those types of people were all bark, no bite and not worth his attention. He knew they would never truly reach the top.

The second was experts that try to hide their aura, but others can still tell how dangerous they were. These types of people were worthy of respect, they didn't care about the unnecessary things and focused on themselves.

The third were experts that could completely hide everything about themselves. Their minds and bodies were at peace as if they meditated in the mountains for years. These people were the truly dangerous ones.

The amount of people that he met that fits the third condition doesn't even add up to ten. And they were all old monsters with decades of experience. Shi Feng seemed to be only one year older than him, so the fact that he had reached such a state was unbelievable.

But that's not what made White Soul so nervous.

While White Soul examined him, Shi Feng was also surprised to see him. Why is the Supreme King here, he wondered. White Soul had been incredibly famous in his past life.

After the Secret Pavilion's guild leader announced his plan to retire the virtual gaming world went crazy. Many factions for supporting the next guild leader were born, and the virtual gaming world entered an era of shadow wars and politics, the likes of which no one has ever seen before. That's because it wasn't just members of the Secret Pavilion that were in these factions.

Independent players, Super Guilds, major corporations, and even organizations such as the Flowers of Seven Sins, were in these factions and influenced the outcome. That's just how big being the Secret Pavilion's guild leader is.

Among these factions, Purple Jade and one of the Pavilion's vice guild leaders had the most support. If it weren't for the fact that White Soul had no interest in becoming the guild leader, his faction and support would have easily surpassed those two. The next guild leader still hadn't been decided even after he reincarnated.

The reason for White Soul's title as the Supreme King is because he had been one of the very few God ranked experts to have mastered all three of the supreme elements. His combat power ranked at the very top of tier 6 players.

White Soul was capable of fighting a tier 6 God NPC by himself, which was a feat that not many tier 6 players can say, not even those with legendary weapons. People had considered him one of the closest God ranked players to reaching tier 7 power.

Shi Feng put his thoughts to the back of his head and greeted his guest. "Uncle Yuan, what can I do for you?"

"Hahaha, it's been so long since we last spoken can't I come to say hello," Yuan Tiexin joked.

"Of course you're always welcomed here. But a man such as yourself must be busy with countless matters everyday, I doubt you will visit my small guild for a little greeting," Shi Feng said as he played along with him.

"Nothing can get past you. We've come here to borrow some experts from Zero Wing," Yuan Tiexin said.

"Borrow experts?" This enticed Shi Feng's curiosity. The Secret Pavilion is much larger than Zero Wing, the amount of experts they command is astronomical. Some of their peak and apex experts shouldn't be weaker than Zero Wing's.

"Yes, we would like to borrow ten peak experts that have mastered the equivalent of ten bronze combat techniques and one silver combat technique at least. They must also have fully unlocked their mana bodies and have high intermediate mana control," Yuan Tiexin stated.

When they heard this, everyone in the room had their eyes widened, Shi Feng was no different. The Secret Pavilion's requirements were ridiculous. Anybody who fits that description currently stands at the very top of God's Domain.

No matter who they are learning a combat technique takes massive amounts of time and effort, not to mention mastering one. Not only do players need the proper physique and mental power they also have to consider their compatibility with the technique they are learning.

Many combat techniques are tailored for specific classes or certain types of players. For example, Void Steps is more tailored for the assassin class. That's why aside from Fire Dance's extraordinary talents and work ethic she was one of the first people in the guild to have learned the footwork technique.

If a player tries to learn a combat technique that doesn't really match their class, it may take more time and effort, especially for bronze and higher techniques.

In the tier 3 era, most Domain Realm experts hadn't mastered a single bronze combat technique. It was only after reaching tier 4 had these experts started using bronze combat techniques more often.

It took Shi Feng weeks to master lightning flash, a high ranking bronze combat technique. At the time even though he was only tier 2, he had the physique and attributes of a tier 3 player and had reached the Domain realm and a high standard in the ascension realm. He also had the support of eternal energy from the Tower of Four Gods.

With all that he had just barely mastered the technique at the time. Granted, Lightning Flash is more powerful than the average bronze combat technique and therefore more difficult to learn, but still a bronze combat technique nonetheless.

Not to mention silver combat techniques. Without reaching the Ascension realm not even tier 4 Domain realm experts have a high likelihood of mastering a silver combat technique, and that's for the weaker silver ranking techniques. Shi Feng suspects that a player will have to have reached the True Ascension realm and incorporate advanced combat techniques to their every action in order to have a high likelihood of mastering a high ranking silver combat technique.

In order to master a gold combat technique players need either extraordinary attributes, tier 5 mental power, a powerful physique, or reached the Transcendental realm.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, like how he was able to master Sword Transmigration in the extraordinary tower with a tier 1 physique and attributes, or how some people in the guild like Fire Dance had learned relatively high ranking silver combat techniques.

At the end of the day there are just too many factors into learning combat techniques. Players have so many other responsibilities like improving their skill completion rates, practicing mana control, acquiring better equipment, or just managing their guilds or adventure team.

Nobody has the time to master a large number of bronze combat techniques at this stage of the game. If they did those players are sorely lacking in some other areas of their development.

Zero Wing only has around 30 people who fit the Secret Pavilion's requirements and everyone of them is an upper echelon who has many responsibilities and are the guilds pillar of strength. If they were to suffer a harsh death penalty it could damage the guild itself.

"May I know why you are asking for such a high level of experts?" Shi Feng asked. As the guild leader he can't just casually hand over some of his guilds strongest players like that.

"Of course. You can't make a decision without knowing why," Yuan Tiexin chuckled.

"The Secret Pavilion has discovered an ancient god's secret realm, but when inside there players' tiers are reduced to 0. physical class players are silenced and magical class players can only use their learned tier 0 spells. To make matters worse we're not allowed the use of our weapons and equipment skill. Even our items Passive skills don't even work and the monsters in there are considerably stronger than the monsters found here."

As Yuan Tiexin described the situation Shi Feng could still see the frustration in the man's eyes. He could tell the Secret Pavilion must have attempted to raid the ancient gods realm but failed miserably.

He finally understood why they were asking for so many high quality experts as well. The difference between being capable of using a combat technique and mastering one is like Night a day.

In a place where players are silenced, reduced to tier 0 and the weakest forms of spells, they will need to rely on powerful combat techniques in order to accomplish anything.

If they tried using a combat technique they haven't mastered yet in that state, they would most likely collapse from stamina depletion and exceeding their concentration limit. Shi Feng figured that was most likely what happened to the Secret Pavilion when they attempted the raid.

But Shi Feng was excited to hear this. Ancient gods' secret realms were treasure troves. These ancient Gods had left some of their valuables there. The likelyhood of obtaining a fragmented legendary item from conquering the realm is high.

In fact fragmented legendary equipment are the worst things a player can get from completing the realm. In the past statistics showed that 30% of the legendary items that Super Guilds had acquired came from ancient gods secret realms. And these legendary items should rank at the very top of their class since they were ancient.

But that still wasn't the most valuable thing one can get from the realm. What truly made the realm valuable were the potential legacies players can get. After all weapons and equipment are all external factors but legacies stick with players till the end of time.

A legacy from an ancient god might help a player transcend tiers.

After thinking for a moment Shi Feng gave Yuan Tiexin an answer. "Zero Wing can provide you with the necessary experts, but in exchange I want the first pick of the boss's loot and 20% of the drops we get."

Purple Jade and White Soul looked at Shi Feng like he was crazy. The Secret Pavilion had gone to other Super Guilds for help as well and not one of them had asked for such a price. While White Soul didn't like it he had to admit that if Shi Feng joined personally then the price would be worth it.

On the other hand Yuan Tiexin wasn't upset in the least, he smiled and said, "unfortunately we can't do that. We have gone to other guilds for help as well and if we give Zero Wing some of the loot they would demand the loot as well. The Secret Pavilion would be left with scraps. After all every single person on this team stands at the very top of God's Domain currently."

Shi Feng understood Yuan Tiexin's point. God's Domain is huge, the Secret Pavilion would only have to expand a little effort to hire the experts they need. Also they would only need to offer some compensation that they can easily get. The fact that the guild came to Zero Wing shows that the Secret Pavilion values their relationship with his guild.

But he couldn't risk the chance of not getting a specific item from the realm.

He had always wanted to raid an ancient God's secret realm, Zero Wing is strong enough to do it now. But the Super Guilds have always kept a tight lid on the locations and methods of how to enter those places. Even after ten years the amount of Ancient Gods Secret Realms he knew could be counted on one hand.

The ones he did know about can't be activated for a while. He would have reached tier 5 by then.

Before he could say anything Yuan Tiexin spoke up, "while we can't offer Zero Wing any of the realms drops, we can give you something else."

"And what is that?" Shi Feng asked.

Yuan Tiexin smiled and said, "we can give Zero Wing the opportunity to become a Super Guild."

For a second Shi Feng was confused. Even though the acquisition of Netherworld Empire Domain realm legacy is an absolute secret, the Secret Pavilion should have gotten their hands on it. So Shi Feng knew he wasn't talking about a Realms of Refinement Legacy.

"What do you mean by that, Uncle Yuan?"

Gentle Snow also listened in. As the guild's vice guild leader she needed to know this information in order to help her guild grow. Unfortunately Violet Cloud and the rest had to leave.

Yuan Tiexin started his explanation l. "Don't you find it wierd that there are some Super First Rate Guilds that have most likely completed their Domain realm legacy but still aren't considered Super Guilds? At the same time they shouldn't have the problem of obtaining high level energy like Zero Wing does."

Shi Feng did always wonder that. Guilds like Miracle, Azure, Divine Tribe and a few others most likely have a complete Domain realm legacy. They are no weaker than Super Guilds, yet they still remain as super first rate guilds.

Yuan Tiexin continued his explanation, "remember i told you a while back that the Secret Pavilion has only recently completed our Realms of Refinement Legacy. But yet we are considered a transcendental existence. In reality our legacy is only on par with the 5 Great Super Guilds."

"The reason is because of research."

"Research?" Shi Feng became even more curious. What kind of research can help a guild become a Super Guild. Everyone else also wondered the same thing.

"It's expected that you are unaware. Super Guilds don't just play virtual reality games, we conduct tons of research and experiments and sell that or use it to better ourselves. The realms of refinement was the result of years and years of some of the first Super Guilds research and study. Things like other methods to develop our brains, combat strategies, war methods, human behavioral patterns and much more, Super Guilds look into all of these and we are recognized by outside existence such as research institutions, governments, and hidden organizations. That is why Super Guilds used to create their own virtual reality games, it was so we can acquire more data."

After his explanation Shi Feng and Gentle Snow's eyes were wide open. They never realized how deep the virtual gaming world runs. Its no wonder so many major corporations invest so heavily into the game and why they are very selective with who they invest in. The research and study done by these guilds can elevate their products to the next level.

It also explains why these guilds are so desperate to snuff out potential and rising superpowers. A new superpower can interfere with their profits and livelihoods.

After being satisfied with their shocked looks Yuan Tiexin said, "so what do you say?"

After Shi Feng calmed down he said, "I'm sorry, Zero Wing refuses your offer."