Chapter 577

: Chapter of Darkness
Translator: 
Hellscythe_ 
 Editor: 
Hellscythe_
While Shi Feng was patiently waiting for Ironwrist’s party to collect their loot, he suddenly discovered an astonishing matter.
The loot of the Dark Magic Serpent had exceeded his expectations entirely.
The Serpent Ironwrist and his party killed had dropped only three items, with two of them being Level 40 Mysterious-Iron Equipment. The third item was a piece of gray crystal. Aside from those, there was nothing else.
Their loot was miles short of the seven items he had gotten.
It seems that the loot of the Dark Magic Serpent really is terrible.
When Shi Feng looked at the drops Ironwrist’s party obtained, he realized that his luck before hadn’t been bad at all.
Just as Shi Feng was about to lament the paucity of the Dark Magic Serpent’s loot, Dustwind, the Elementalist of the party, suddenly jumped up in joy.

We’ve lucked out! It actually dropped!
Dustwind laughed.

Really?! Let me see!
Off Fire rushed to the Elementalist, the expression on his face right now as if he had just won the lottery.
We’ve only been hunting Dark Magic Serpents for four days, yet we’ve already managed to obtain it? That can’t be, right?

Likewise, everyone else in the party ran over to the Elementalist, one after another, excited expressions on their faces.
Shi Feng could not help but be stunned at this sight.
He had long since peeked at the party’s loot using Omniscient Eyes. Although Level 40 Mysterious-Iron Equipment was indeed a rare item right now, it was still useless to current players. Moreover, its Basic Attributes were only slightly better than Level 30 Fine-Gold Equipment. With the strength of Ironwrist’s party, would Level 40 Mysterious-Iron Equipment be able to even enter their eyes by the time they reached Level 40?
Was there a need to get this excited?

Wah! Leader, it really dropped! We’ve hit the jackpot this time!
Off Fire said as he showed off the gray crystal in his hand to Ironwrist.
After Ironwrist accepted the gray crystal, he took a look at it before gritting his teeth and passing it to Shi Feng, saying,
Brother Expert, you saved our Seventh Party. We don’t really have anything we can offer to you in gratitude, so please accept this Soul Crystal on our behalf.


This…
Shi Feng was stunned momentarily. He then said,
Instead of giving me this item, I hope that Brother Ironwrist can help me ask around on some matters. You can take this item as remuneration for your efforts.


This won’t do. The value of a single Soul Crystal far surpasses the price required for us to ask around for information,
Ironwrist refused. He then pondered slightly before continuing,
Why don’t I use Gemstones of equal value to trade for it?

Gemstones were not foreign to players of God’s Domain. One could say that they were one of the hard currencies of God’s Domain. They could be inlaid into equipment to improve said equipment’s Attributes.
However, during the initial stages of God’s Domain, Gemstones were extremely rare. Hence, the prices for these items were also very high.
Currently, a single Tier 1 Gemstone, which was capable of increasing a single Attribute by three points, cost around ten Silver. As for Tier 2 Gemstones, capable of increasing a single Attribute by six points, they cost around 90 Silver. Among the variety of Tier 2 Gemstones, the ones that increased Strength, Agility, or Intelligence could sell for up to one Gold.
To current players, the best Gemstones obtainable right now were Tier 2 Gemstones.

Sure,
Shi Feng agreed.

Great! Our party has a total of 23 Tier 2 Gemstones and 89 Tier 1 Gemstones. However, we don’t have too many on hand right now; most of them are in our Warehouses. Can I pass you the remaining ones after we return to the district?
Ironwrist asked, somewhat embarrassed.
Shi Feng was greatly shocked by the Shield Warrior’s offer.
If he sold all these Gemstones, he could get roughly 30 Gold in total. Moreover, that 30 Gold was only part of the Soul Crystal’s actual value.
Since Shi Feng had already promised to exchange it, he naturally would not regret his decision. Hence, he promptly accepted all the Gemstones Ironwrist currently had on him.
Shi Feng could tell how desperate Ironwrist and his party members were for the gray crystal. Moreover, it seemed that they had come here solely to farm for this Soul Crystal. In any case, Shi Feng had no use for this item right now. He also had another three crystals sitting inside his bag. If he really needed more in the future, he could simply come and kill more Dark Magic Serpents. With Divine Providence, he could easily obtain plenty of Soul Crystals.
Following which, Shi Feng accompanied Ironwrist and the others back to District Five.
To put it simply, District Five was an area enclosed within a gigantic magic array. There was a small town inside this area, and the number of players residing within this town was relatively low.
Although there were not many players here, the players had very high Levels. Every one of them was Level 26 or above. They were higher-leveled than even the elite players of Guilds. Moreover, the equipment these players wore were of very high quality, with the weakest being Mysterious-Iron Equipment, and the majority being Secret-Silver Equipment. Only the elite members of Zero Wing could possibly compare to these ordinary players.

Why aren’t there any NPCs guards here?
Shi Feng could not help but ask. After surveying the streets for a while, he had not seen any NPC guards whatsoever.
NPC guards were normally used to maintain town security and to prevent fights between players.
Not having any NPC guards was not good news to ordinary players.

NPC guards? What’s that?
Ironwrist asked curiously.

They’re NPCs meant to maintain the security of the town and prevent players from trying to kill each other,
Shi Feng replied, surprised.

District Five doesn’t have such NPCs, as we’re inside a Safe Zone. Within the Safe Zone, no player can attack anyone. Hence, town security is very high. Moreover, our District Five is very powerful. We’ve accumulated enough Soul Crystals to even establish a new Training Facility already. On the other hand, Districts Six and Seven are only able to defend themselves against monster assaults,
Ironwrist proudly explained.

I see.
Shi Feng nodded. He more or less understood what was going on now.
God’s Domain was an extremely mysterious game. The Main God System was also constantly expanding God’s Domain itself.
Depending on the region a player resided in, the gameplay they experienced would indeed be somewhat different.
Shi Feng had encountered such situations a few times in the past. Only, he had not expected the gameplay here to be this different from where he came from.
It felt as if the players here were playing a city-building game, protecting and developing the cities they belonged to.
This was just like how a Guild would establish their own town or city.
However, there was yet to be a single Guild capable of constructing their own city.
Soon, Ironwrist and his party set out to help Shi Feng gather information related to the Dark Den. Meanwhile, Shi Feng himself went to a bar to collect information about this place.

Did you hear? Our few Districts have recently joined forces and are preparing to go on a crusade against Gloomy Valley. The crusading army is currently recruiting members as well. As long as we can get rid of the Great Lord Noya inside Gloomy Valley, we will be able to open up new maps,
a Guardian Knight inside the bar said to his companions after taking a sip of red wine.

I heard that the top ten parties of our District Five can join the crusading army directly. Unfortunately, my party is ranked more than fifty, and we’ll have to pass a test if we want to join the coalition,
an Assassin said with disappointment.

That’s right! As long as we can defeat the Great Lord, we will be able to obtain the Chapter of Darkness. At which point, the monster assaults will become much easier to handle.

…
For a time, everyone inside the bar discussed matters related to Gloomy Valley.
Chapter of Darkness? Shi Feng suddenly thought about the Bible of Darkness when he heard about the Chapter of Darkness. Is there some sort of connection between the two?
His quest required him to obtain the Bible of Darkness. However, he had no clue as to how he should go about doing so.
Meanwhile, the Chapter of Darkness could possibly be an important clue.

It seems that I’ll have to make a trip to Gloomy Valley myself,
Shi Feng quietly muttered.