Chapter 1861 - Airport Opening Time's up already?

Chapter 1861 – Airport Opening Time’s up already?
After reading the system notification, Shi Feng promptly stopped his work, contacted Cream Cocoa, and instructed her to take his place.
He had worked constantly over the past two days to produce the Hell Tank. He had also used the Philosopher’s Hand to help Cream Cocoa and Melancholic Smile forge the Hell Tank’s components. After all, he was Zero Wing’s Guild Leader. He didn’t have a lot of spare time to commit to the Hell Tank. Now that the two women had become Basic Master Forgers, the Philosopher’s Hand could help them perform as Intermediate Master Forgers, as well.
As the two women forged more components, their forging standards improved. Likewise, their production success rate increased. Although they weren’t nearly as skilled as Shi Feng when crafting the Hell Tank’s upgraded power source, their success range was tolerable.
With this, Melancholic Smile and Cream Cocoa could work on the Hell Tank’s forged components as long as they had materials even if he wasn’t around.
When Hell Tanks were used on a battlefield, they weren’t very effective unless an army had a certain number of them. However, once they had a sufficient force, players wouldn’t be able to compare to their destructive power. Hence, production of the Hell Tanks must continue without pause.
Moreover, once she used and familiarize herself with the Philosopher’s Hand, Melancholic Smile could use the alchemy treasure effectively to nurture Candlelight’s Advanced Lifestyle players. With it, she could gauge which players would quickly reach Master rank. This, in turn, would increase Candlelight’s strength far more quickly.
After passing his work off to Cream Cocoa, Shi Feng used a Guild Transfer Scroll to teleport to Silverwing Town.
Ore Empire, Silverwing Town:
As Shi Feng walked through the streets, he could see that the town’s player population had significantly decreased. The previously crowded main street alone had lost over half of its players.
A strange depression had descended on the town. It was nowhere near as lively as it had been.
Sure enough, the Crimson Flame Fortress’s allure to elite and expert players is quite strong. With a glance at the streets, Shi Feng noticed that the majority of these players were ordinary players. Very few were elites or experts.
The Crimson Flame Fortress definitely couldn’t compete with Silverwing Town in terms of facilities, but it could teleport players to various locations near the Ore Capital City while evading the Ore army’s strict patrol. It was a fatal attraction for elite and expert players since this allowed them to reach the Asura Mode Regional Dungeon with far more ease.
In contrast, although Silverwing Town was very close to the Primordial Divine Ruin, a limited number of players were allowed to enter the ruin at any onetime. Meanwhile, the various large Guilds and superpowers monopolized the entry slots. Independent players had no chance of entering the ruin.
It was natural that these players wanted to head towards the Ore Capital City in search of treasure and EXP. After all, every player wanted to grow stronger and get rich overnight. The Ore Capital City provided a golden opportunity. Even if players failed to find amazing treasure, they could acquire enough Magic Crystals in the Regional Dungeon to earn a small fortune, selling them to the various large Guilds in bulk.
Although the various Team Dungeons had a chance of dropping Magic Crystals, they didn’t drop many, and the drop-rate was painfully low. In contrast, even the Ore Capital City’s Level 50-plus Lord ranked monsters had a considerably high drop- rate. And these Lord ranked monsters were common in the Regional Dungeon.
“Damn the Blackwater Guild. They’ve gone too far. We’re not even Zero Wing members. We are just here for a few Silverwing Town transportation quests, yet they treat us like Zero Wing members, annihilating our team without a second thought.”
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Blackwater’s members and the Dark Players have stated that from tomorrow on, any player that wants to complete a transportation quest in Silverwing Town will have to pay a ‘protection fee.’ Otherwise, they won’t guarantee our safety during our quest. Surviving in Silverwing Town had become too difficult. I’m thinking of heading to the Ore Capital City and be done with it.”
“This is Zero Wing’s territory. Isn’t the Guild going to do anything about this?”
“Does Zero Wing even have the leeway to? Right now, Zero Wing’s teams are constantly fighting Blackwater’s members and the Dark Players. There have already been several hundred skirmishes within Silverwing Town’s vicinity. However, Blackwater is simply too ruthless. It used its point-system to attract large numbers of elite and expert players to fight for it. Now, Blackwater’s forces outnumber Zero Wing by many times. Zero Wing just doesn’t have enough manpower to protect every corner of its territory. I’ve heard that Zero Wing has suffered more than 20,000 casualties already. Where would Zero Wing find the time and manpower to deal with the highway robberies?”
“I’ve also heard that Aqua Rose personally led an expert legion to stop Blackwater’s members in order to protect its territory. In the end, nearly half of Zero Wing’s main force members and more than 2,000 Zero Wing experts died in that battle. Meanwhile, Blackwater lost a little over 2,000 experts and 3,000 elites. In the end, as Blackwater had too many people, and since bounty hunters had begun to join the fight, Aqua Rose’s legion was forced to retreat. Now, Zero Wing has limited its movement around the town.”
“It seems Silverwing Town isn’t hospitable anymore. Let’s just try our luck in the Ore Capital City.”
…
Hearing the players’ leisurely chat on the street, some of the nearby independent players couldn’t help their deep sigh.
Silverwing Town wasn’t declining because its facilities had fallen behind the times, but because of Blackwater’s ruthlessness. The Guild gave independent players no hope of making a living in Silverwing Town.
They’re targeting the town’s independent players now? Shi Feng was surprised as he overheard the conversations. Has Blackwater’s leader in the Ore Empire been replaced?
Guilds rarely involved independent players when they fought each other in God’s Domain. Not only was the act morally bankrupt, but it would also leave a bad impression of the Guild. Most importantly, it would turn independent players against the Guild.
Yet, Blackwater ignored these consequences and attacked independent players. It had even gone as far as to charge protection fees.
The vicious methods the Guild employed wasn’t typical of Blackwater’s previous pattern.
Previously, Blackwater had operated arrogantly. Although it had tried to use overwhelming power to force its opponents to submit, the Guild had only pointed its blade at its enemies. The Guild hadn’t involved bystanders.
However, Shi Feng didn’t give the matter much thought as he made his way towards the new airport.
Regardless of what Blackwater actions, there was one thing he could be sure of; the Guild was his enemy. Although Blackwater’s new tactics were unexpected, now that the airport was complete, he could begin to take action.
Very quickly, Shi Feng arrived in the town’s eastern outer area.
Since this area didn’t have any particularly important buildings, very few players normally visited this side of town. Since Silverwing Town had deteriorated, even fewer people wandered this way. However, the gigantic magic barrier that enveloped the airport was extremely eye-catching, so a few passing players had stopped to examine the massive barrier.
Recently, over a dozen Level 100 NPC guards had gathered at the mountain-like barrier’s entrance, attracting even more attention.
“Lord Protector, I am the guard team’s Knight Captain Fleiss. I will be responsible for guiding you once we’re inside,” Fleiss, a Tier 3 Knight Captain, respectfully introduced himself as Shi Feng arrived.
“I’ll have to trouble you, then,” Shi Feng said, nodding, as he followed Fleiss into the magic barrier.
The moment he entered the magic barrier, a luxurious, spacious airport appeared before his eyes. Icy-cold, metallic airships, radiating a manufactured aura, filled the airport, which could practically rival the Medium Airports he remembered from his previous life. The only difference was the airport’s size; it was just a little smaller.
“Lord Protector, this is a special model Small Airport. It has a total of five Small Docks and one Medium Dock. Each dock comes with its own airship. The airport’s operation will require 150 people and 50 people to guard it. The five Small Airships will require 25 Intermediate Machinists to fly, and the Medium Airship will require eight Advanced Machinists. Once the personnel has been assigned, the airport can open to the public,” Fleiss explained as he guided Shi Feng through the airport. “As you are a City Protector, we can help recruit these people for you. However, you will have to pay a monthly employment fee of 4,000 Gold.”
“Alright. Let’s go with that.”
Shi Feng had, more or less, learned about airports’ personnel requirements during his previous life. Finding the required staff to operate the airport was relatively easy, but finding the appropriate machinists wasn’t. The machinist subclass was quite special and rare. It required one to have the engineer, forger, and magician subclasses. Ordinary players already had plenty of trouble developing one subclass, let alone three. Moreover, one needed to know how to merge the three subclasses’ techniques.
It would take far more time to nurture a machinist than other subclasses, as well. With how suddenly he had acquired the airport, he hadn’t prepared for this aspect
Naturally, the fact that the system was willing to handle this issue was a welcome reprieve.
Following which, Shi Feng paid the 4,000-Gold monthly employment fee.
“I have received the 4,000 Gold. All staff members will arrive in ten minutes. Once they do, we can open the airport to the public when you’re ready. If there are no issues, I will take my leave,” Fleiss said before turning to exit the airport.
Following which, Shi Feng toured the airport to pass the time. Ten minutes flew by in the blink of an eye.
System: Do you wish to open the airport to the public?