Chapter 374

: Results Beyond Imagination
Translator: 
Hellscythe_ 
 Editor: 
Hellscythe_

Good,
Shi Feng sighed in relief when he read the information displayed.
[Philosopher’s Stone] (36% Completed)
Epic Rank Special Item (Dropped upon death)
A sacred item for Alchemy, the Philosopher’s Stone can be used to turn stone into gold, revive the dead, and more. However, the Sword Emperor, Knight, shattered the Philosopher’s Stone into five pieces. However, the Philosopher’s Stone possesses immense strength. As long as one gathers the five pieces, it will recover to its full strength.
Active Effect: Due to being damaged, the Philosopher’s Stone possesses less than a seventh of its original strength. It can only be used for Alchemical Conversion, Elemental Refinement, Alchemical Synthesis, and Elemental Strengthening.
Now that the Philosopher’s Stone was capable of Alchemical Synthesis, Shi Feng should be able to obtain Mana Stones easily.
Just as he was about to begin the Alchemical Synthesis, a system notification alerted Shi Feng. Moreover, it repeated three times.
Star-Moon Kingdom Region System Announcement: Congratulations to Overwhelming Smile for becoming the first team to conquer the Hard Mode Bone Ruin. Rewarding 10,000 Guild Reputation and 10,000 Guild Popularity. All players within the team will be rewarded 100 Reputation Points in White River City and 10 Reputation Points in Star-Moon Kingdom.
Star-Moon Kingdom Region System Announcement: Congratulations to Overwhelming Smile for becoming the first team to conquer the Hard Mode Bone Ruin. Rewarding 10,000 Guild Reputation and 10,000 Guild Popularity. All players within the team will be rewarded 100 Reputation Points in White River City and 10 Reputation Points in Star-Moon Kingdom.
Star-Moon Kingdom Region System Announcement: Congratulations to Overwhelming Smile for becoming the first team to conquer the Hard Mode Bone Ruin. Rewarding 10,000 Guild Reputation and 10,000 Guild Popularity. All players within the team will be rewarded 100 Reputation Points in White River City and 10 Reputation Points in Star-Moon Kingdom.

What? The Bone Ruin is a 50-man Team Dungeon. A Guild has already defeated it?
Thinking that he had heard wrong, Shi Feng quickly opened the system message log to take a look. However, they had indeed cleared the Bone Ruin.

Overwhelming Smile? Isn’t that one of the Guilds controlled by Underworld, a second-rate Guild dominant in Maple City?
Shi Feng could not help his surprise. He then carefully read the member list of the team that cleared Bone Ruin.
How could they have cleared it first?

There were over a hundred cities throughout Star-Moon Kingdom. There were simply too many Guilds and experts within the kingdom to count. There were also plenty of first-rate Guilds. Among the countless teams, the one with the greatest chance of being the first to clear a 50-man Hard Mode Team Dungeon belonged to Gentle Snow in White River City. On this, Shi Feng was certain.
Immediately after Shi Feng had entered White River City, he produced the White River City Guidebook. Gentle Snow had even spent a large sum to purchase the most detailed version, gaining a huge advantage over the other Guilds right off the bat. Moreover, to secure the First Clear of the Three Great Dungeons, Gentle Snow had assembled many of Ouroboros’ experts in White River City. She even purchased multiple Fine-Gold ranked Arclight Shields and a large stock of Basic Mana Armor Kits from Shi Feng. Not even the core team of the most powerful first-rate Guilds in Star-Moon Kingdom could compete with Gentle Snow’s team in terms of personnel or equipment.
Yet, Gentle Snow’s team had actually lost to a second-rate Guild like Overwhelming Smile. Although Overwhelming Smile received plenty of support from Underworld in the form of money and experts, the First Clear of 50-man Hard Mode Team Dungeons was not easy to claim.
If that were the case, Gentle Snow would have long since claimed the First Clear of the Land of Death.
Moreover, in Shi Feng’s memories, Overwhelming Smile had always been a very ordinary Guild. In the end, Assassin’s Alliance took them out, and they were swept away by the torrents of God’s Domain.

Just what sort of secrets is Overwhelming Smile hiding?
In the information Shi Feng received from Absolute Heaven, there was nothing special about Overwhelming Smile. Despite Underworld going all-out with its support, even sending 50 Underworld Guards to help the Guild, Shi Feng did not believe for a second that Overwhelming Smile could take the lead in claiming the First Clear of a 50-man Team Dungeon.
Yet, Overwhelming Smile had done exactly that. This showed that Overwhelming Smile’s team had an advantage that not even Gentle Snow’s could compete with.
If Overwhelming Smile continued to develop without rival Guilds, in addition to Underworld’s hidden support, even Shi Feng could not guess how powerful the Guild would become.
The appearance of the three system notifications had immediately caused a sensation throughout Star-Moon Kingdom. Previously, everyone had their guesses as to which first-rate Guild would be the first to claim the First Clear of a 50-man Team Dungeon. However, no one expected this result.
A second-rate Guild had actually accomplished what first-rate Guilds couldn’t…
For a time, Overwhelming Smile had become the focus in Star-Moon Kingdom.

I need to hurry as well.

Shi Feng clutched the Philosopher’s Stone and started the Alchemical Synthesis.
No matter how powerful an enemy was, one’s personal strength still mattered the most.
Shi Feng stored one Magic Crystal after another in the Philosopher’s Stone. In the next moment, the synthesis bar began to slowly increase. The synthesis bar only reached 100% after Shi Feng stored 50 Magic Crystals.
Although Shi Feng could now synthesize Mana Stones using Magic Crystals, the Philosopher’s Stone in his possession was still incomplete. Hence, the synthesis rate was only 50%.

This item really is an alchemical treasure,
the power of this stone awed Shi Feng.
If Grandmaster Alchemists could see this synthesis rate and the number of required base materials, it would leave them speechless with shock.
Grandmaster Alchemists’ synthesis rate only hovered around 20%, which was already quite high. Meanwhile, normally over 200 base materials were required. Hence, nobody would willingly sacrifice high-tiered materials through Alchemical Synthesis. However, Grandmaster Alchemists paled in comparison to the Philosopher’s Stone. It was as expected of a treasure of alchemy.
Meanwhile, Alchemical Combination was only a small part of the Philosopher’s Stone’s abilities. It was no wonder so many kingdoms and empires had gone to war over the Philosopher’s Stone.

Let’s start, then.
Shi Feng clicked the
Synthesize
button.
Three seconds later, an additional fist-sized gray stone appeared in Shi Feng’s hand. This was none other than the Mana Stone.

Awesome!

After successfully synthesizing a Mana Stone, Shi Feng quickly added more Magic Crystals into the Philosopher’s Stone, starting the second round of Alchemical Synthesis.
At the same time, Shi Feng had also contacted Melancholic Smile and instructed her to purchase a large stock of Magic Crystals immediately. With the stockpile Zero Wing possessed, he wouldn’t have enough to synthesize 21 Mana Stones.
Even if the synthesis rate was 100%, he would need 1,050 Magic Crystals to for 21 Mana Stones. With only a 50% rate, he would need at least 2,100 Magic Crystals.
Shi Feng had previously used quite a lot of Magic Crystals, and he only had 508 remaining.
By Shi Feng’s estimation, he would need at least 2,000 more Magic Crystals.

Guild Leader, please tell me you’re joking. You want to purchase 2,000 Magic Crystals? The current market value for them is 8 Silver Coins each; 160 Gold for 2,000 pieces. Moreover, this is the best and lowest cost. If we buy them in bulk, the prices in White River City will soar. When that happens, we’ll need to pay at least double or triple the current price. Making a rough estimate, we’ll need to spend at least 300 Gold to get 2,000 Magic Crystals.
Although Melancholic Smile had always dealt with the purchasing of materials for the Horizon Alliance, this was her first time handling a transaction that involved over 300 Gold. She struggled against her sudden anxiety.
If converted to Credits, 300 Gold Coins would be over four million Credits. All her life, she had never even seen so much money.

It doesn’t matter. Just get it done quickly.
Shi Feng couldn’t care less about the potential consequences. His Class Change Quest took priority. Even if he had to spend 1,000 Gold to purchase the 2,000 Magic Crystals, he would not hesitate. By the time Melancholic Smile’s group of three could mass-produce the Basic Strengthened Armor Kits, it would only be a short time before he earned the money back.
After half an hour passed, Melancholic Smile delivered 2,000 Magic Crystals to Shi Feng. She had experienced the pleasure of being a wealthy tycoon.
Meanwhile, during this period, Shi Feng had also kept himself busy. After using 500 Magic Crystals, he had an additional six Mana Stones. In addition, he had also produced some Basic Mana Armor Kits for his Guild, as well as slightly raising his own Forging Proficiency.

Hopefully my luck won’t be too bad.

Shi Feng took the 2,000 Magic Crystals and started the Alchemical Synthesis once more.
He used 100 pieces… 200 pieces…
The new stock of Magic Crystals continuously diminished.
After using 1,650 Magic Crystals, Shi Feng had finally managed to collect 21 Mana Stones.