BXBX NOVEL Chapter 1832 - Three Great Trading Firms
The system announcement repeated three times, the system’s emotionless voice echoing in Shi Feng’s ears. Upon hearing these words, Shi Feng fell into a daze that lasted for a long time.
A Silver Twin Lions Token? Shi Feng stared in shock at the silver token in his hand.
Carved on this circular silver token was the image of two lions. There were also golden divine runes etched along its rim. It radiated an extremely ancient aura, obviously having existed for a very long time.
“Lord Protector, congratulations on obtaining this Twin Lions Trading Firm Token. You are now a Silver VIP of the Twin Lions Trading Firm, one of God’s Domain’s three most ancient trading firms. It is very difficult to become one of the trading firm’s VIPs. This token will be of great help to you when you are doing business or transporting goods. Lord Protector, please make sure to keep the token secure. You will not be given a new one if you lose it,” the NPC senior administrator explained.
However, at this point, Shi Feng wasn’t even listening to the NPC’s explanation anymore.
After all, he had a clearer understanding of the value of the Twin Lions Trading Firm’s token than even the NPC administrator, having long familiarity with the ability and influence of the trading firm.
The Twin Lions Trading Firm was one of the oldest trading firms extant in God’s Domain. Its origins were unknown.
However, rumor had it that the Twin Lions Trading Firm had a hand in the establishment of the famous War God’s Temple. Although the Twin Lions Trading Firm currently did not possess as extensive an influence as the War God’s Temple, whose influence spanned the entire continent of God’s Domain, it was still more influential than an ordinary empire. Only the Four Great Empires of God’s Domain could possibly rival the trading firm in influence.
Meanwhile, to Guilds, the Twin Lions Trading Firm was much more important than even the Four Great Empires. In fact, the trading firm’s importance to Guilds surpassed the War God’s Temple’s.
This distinction was because the Twin Lions Trading Firm’s trade routes covered over half of the entire continent. Anyone ferrying non-bag space items would prefer to use the trade routes of the trading firm, as these were much safer than the trade routes operated by players. Aside from the greater danger, player-operated trade routes were far less efficient. By using the Twin Lions Trading Firm’s trade routes, one could save more than half the travel time they would normally need when using a player-operated trade route.
However, getting to utilize the Twin Lions Trading Firm’s trade routes was not an easy task. One had to be a member of the Twin Lions Trading Firm. In other words, they needed to obtain one of the trading firm’s tokens. Only then could they transport goods through the trading firm’s trade routes.
Hence, the various large Guilds and merchant players in the past all sought to join the Twin Lions Trading Firm.
Of course, the benefits and treatment one received depended on one’s status in the Twin Lions Trading Firm. VIPs not only got more discounts but also had access to trade routes that were normally not open to lower-ranking members. This was especially true for trade routes in neutral maps. In addition, higher-ranking members also had the privilege of hiring NPC escorts from the Twin Lions Trading Firm.
For example, in the past, due to Shadow’s low ranking in the Twin Lions Trading Firm, Shi Feng had no choice but to lead the Guild’s delivery runs himself. As a result, they frequently came under attack from NPC bandits. Had Shadow’s ranking been enough in the Twin Lions Trading Firm to hire NPC escorts to serve as a deterrence, the Guild’s caravans wouldn’t have come under attack so frequently.
In the Twin Lions Trading Firm, the token one held represented their rank in the trading firm. From lowest to highest, the ranks were Common, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Elder.
Although there were only five ranks, even the lowest Common Token was extremely difficult to obtain. On the market, a Common Twin Lions Token had been worth around 10,000 Gold. Even so, nobody who had a token would be willing to sell it. One could easily imagine the difficulty of acquiring a Common Token. In addition, the Twin Lions Trading Firm acknowledged only the token and not its owner. There was no way to upgrade a token’s rank. The number of tokens distributed also had a limit, and the tokens would all drop upon death. Hence, many players and powers had sought to steal the tokens in the past.
From what Shi Feng knew, there were only 99 Common Tokens, 49 Bronze Tokens, 24 Silver Tokens, and twelve Golden Tokens in the game at any time. As for the Elder Token, he had never heard any information about it. However, he expected it to be limited to ten.
With the billions of players in God’s Domain, this small number of tokens simply wasn’t enough to satisfy the demand.
Hence, every token was extremely valuable, regardless of its rank.
In the past, Shi Feng had managed to get his hands on a Common Token only by a stroke of good luck.
He had never dreamed of obtaining a Silver Token in this life.
With this, transporting important items across neutral maps will no longer be a problem. Looking at the Twin Lions Token,
Shi Feng cooked up many new plans.
Non-bag space items were always worth a fortune; this was especially true for specialty products that were unique to a certain area. The main reason for their high value was the high cost of transporting them. However, many items important to players generally required the use of these materials.
Moreover, as players reached higher levels, the development of Guild Towns and Cities would also start to require more and more non-bag space items. In addition, some special weapons and tools would necessitate the use of non-bag space items. Hence, the Twin Lions Trading Firm had been extremely popular among the various large Guilds and merchant players.
Now that Shi Feng had a Silver Token, he would have no problem traveling across many neutral maps. He could also use these specialty non-bag space items to make a fortune.
In addition, the Twin Lions Trading Firm would hold an auction once a month. The standard of this auction far surpassed any auction hosted by players and empires. One could say that the Twin Lions Trading Firm’s auction was the highest-standard auction in the entire God’s Domain. In the past, even Legendary items had appeared in the auction, as well as Fragmented Legendary items in significant quantities. As for Epic items, they were no different from commonplace items in the auction.
In the past, every Twin Lions Trading Firm auction was a time for the various large Guilds to increase their combat power.
However, participating in the auction was not easy. At the very minimum, one needed to possess a Common Token. Depending on the rank of one’s token, the number of people one could bring into the auction would differ. The Common Token allowed only one person entry into the auction venue, whereas the Bronze Token allowed two people, the Silver Token allowed three, and the Gold Token allowed five. As for the Elder Token, as nobody had ever obtained one even after ten years had passed in God’s Domain, nobody knew how many people the token allowed entry to.
It seems I can have Aqua start tasking some people with transporting the Diamond Wood we have stockpiled to the Apocalypse Empire’s shipyard. Shi Feng smiled as he looked at the Silver Token.
Previously, as he had been worried about having insufficient strength to protect the shipment, he had not bothered transporting the Diamond Wood they collected. Now that he had a Silver Token, he could borrow the Twin Lions Trading Firm’s power. By spending a little money, he could easily send the stockpile of Diamond Wood over to the Apocalypse Empire. Although he didn’t have a Bronze Speedboat Design right now, using Diamond Wood to construct Advanced Speedboats would still increase the Attributes of the speedboat somewhat
Afterward, Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose and had her dispatch some Guild experts to make the necessary preparations. As for himself, he returned to the Candlelight Trading firm and started producing All-rounded Devices.
Although Cream Cocoa and Melancholic Smile could indeed produce enough All-rounded Devices for the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion and Unyielding Soul, he was also in dire need of the All-rounded Devices himself as he planned to head to the Flame Demon’s Valley and activate the World Gate as soon as possible.
Only with the help of the Philosopher’s Hand could he increase the development speed of Candlelight’s Lifestyle Players.
The production of ships required a large number of Master Engineers, not to mention the production of the Hell Chariots and Guardian Puppets. Having just two or three Master Engineers simply wasn’t enough.
Meanwhile, over at Silverwing Town, the Transportation Firm’s construction was just completed. The sudden appearance of the three-story, stadium-sized building immediately caused a commotion among the players in the town.