Chapter 506 – Crazed Border

“Has Soul logged out? Did something happen on her end?” Shi Feng asked, sensing something was amiss when he saw Gentle Snow’s expression.

Hidden Soul had entered the Void Saint’s Legacy Land along with Gentle Snow. However, the two did not end up together after the city battle. Instead, Gentle Snow was swept into a special space, while Hidden Soul had been missing ever since.

Just yesterday, Shi Feng had deliberately gone offline to meet up with Gentle Snow and check on Hidden Soul’s situation at the Star Lake Training Center. Initially, he had thought that Hidden Soul would have a mandatory online period similar to Gentle Snow, but it seemed that Hidden Soul was either busy in God’s Domain or had a longer mandatory online period, as she did not come offline at the same time as Gentle Snow.

“Mhm, there’s nothing wrong with Soul herself,” Gentle Snow said before pausing. Then, she took a deep breath and whispered, “It’s just that a concerning problem has taken place in the Miniature Ancient World. After the city battle, the system required all players in the Miniature Ancient World to stay online. Moreover, time there had been flowing at an astonishing rate throughout this period. According to Soul, four months had already passed in the Miniature Ancient World, and it has only just returned to normal now. Players are also able to log in and out freely now.”

“Four months?” Shi Feng was shocked to hear this.

Throughout the many years he played God’s Domain, he had only ever heard of players experiencing different time-flows after getting trapped in certain special locations. However, he had never heard of an entire world getting sealed and having its time flow accelerated, even if it was only a miniature world.

Not to mention, the Miniature Ancient World’s time flow was accelerated to quite a significant extent, experiencing in-game four months in only several real-world days. This was truly an astonishing situation.

“The accelerated time flow wasn’t a problem originally. Although the Miniature Ancient World’s various powers remained fiercely competitive even after the World Passage was closed, they reached a state of balance,” Gentle Snow said. “But as soon as the system lifted the seal on the Miniature Ancient World and the flow of time returned to normal, another World Passage opened.

“The new World Passage is very stable and can easily allow Tier 5 players to come and go. Moreover, after our Miniature Ancient World was unsealed, the location where the World Passage opened up changed. It is no longer located in the Starlight Realm’s Sea of Giants, but a part of the Void Sea that is very close to several Realms.”

“The Void Sea?” Shi Feng was stunned. “Wouldn’t that make it a target of contention for numerous Realms?”

The Greater God’s Domain’s various Realms were located far apart from one another. Even Tier 6 players would have difficulty traveling between two neighboring Realms.

Not to mention, there were many undeveloped areas and primordial ruins in the Void Sea. Many of the Greater God’s Domain’s discovered Divine Artifacts were obtained from these undeveloped areas and primordial ruins. Hence, experts at Tier 5 and above would typically head to the Void Sea to further their development.

Because of this, the various powers operating in the Void Sea would typically build Guild Fortresses for their members to teleport to. Not only would this let their members save on travel time, but the various powers could also charge non-member visitors exorbitant entrance fees to generate additional revenue, killing two birds with one stone.

The problem was that every Guild Fortress could only accommodate a limited number of players. Moreover, the materials required to build a Guild Fortress in the Void Sea were demanding and costly, so the various powers couldn’t build as many fortresses as they wanted.

However, it was a different story for a miniature world. A miniature world could accommodate many, many more players than a Guild Fortress. So, now that a miniature world had appeared in the Void Sea, one could easily imagine the turmoil it would cause among the various powers.

Gentle Snow’s face darkened slightly as she nodded to Shi Feng’s words. Then, she said, “Many powers have already entered the Miniature Ancient World thus far. Not only are these powers frantically seizing the Guild Towns built by our native powers, but they have also destroyed many of our native powers. Currently, whether it is the Asura Mercenary Alliance or Zero Wing, neither is doing well…”

During the two months Gentle Snow had spent with Scarecrow Fox, she learned how intense and terrifying the competition among the Greater God’s Domain’s various powers was. It was especially so for struggles involving multiple Realms.

When going up against the powers of multiple Realms, even the Greater God’s Domain’s upper-ranking hegemonic powers were likely to face destruction, let alone the Miniature Ancient World’s native superpowers.

“It seems we will have to return to the Miniature Ancient World as soon as possible,” Shi Feng said, deciding to push forward some of his plans.

If a Guild wished to become an immortal kingdom and stand at the Greater God’s Domain’s apex, the first thing it needed to do was to ensure it had a stable supply of fresh blood.

Typically, when the Greater God’s Domain’s various powers chose to recruit young talents, they would prioritize the geniuses of their homeworld first and foremost. This was because native geniuses were less likely to betray them. It would also be more convenient to nurture them in the real world.

Everyone might be tied together in God’s Domain, but players of different civilizations were situated far apart from one another in the Greater World. If a power recruited players originating from the same homeworld, they could be certain that these players operated in the same region as they did in the Greater World.

However, if a power recruited players from a different homeworld, they wouldn’t necessarily be operating in the same sphere of mobile cities. They might not even be operating on the same interstellar continent. This would make managing and nurturing these players a very troublesome affair.

The Miniature Ancient World was their civilization’s miniature world. It served as a foundation for Zero Wing to establish a foothold in the Greater God’s Domain. If Zero Wing got eliminated from the Miniature Ancient World, he’d have to start planning for early retirement.

“Return to the Miniature Ancient World?” Gentle Snow looked at Shi Feng with confusion. “Can we even do that?”

“Mhm. I have a way for us to go back,” Shi Feng said in a whisper. “But before that, we need to deal with things here.”

Returning to the Miniature Ancient World was not a problem for him. The Abyss Workshop Certification allowed teleportation between Realms. He also had the Miniature Ancient World’s location saved, so he could use the Workshop Certification to create a World-Breaking Gate that linked the Eternal Realm and the Miniature Ancient World. The only problem was that he could only teleport up to twenty players at a time.

But before returning, he still needed to obtain the Heroic Mark first. Otherwise, he’d risk other powers securing the Level 155 Floor Master’s First Kill before he did, and that was not a risk he could afford to take.

While Shi Feng and Gentle Snow were having their discussion, everyone in the team suddenly heard the voice of Blaze Eye, one of the team’s Rangers who had gone to scout ahead.

“Everyone! I found a Mutated Floor Master!”

Upon hearing Blaze Eye’s words, the eyes of the team’s resting members instantly lit up with excitement.

“Blaze, are you sure you didn’t make a mistake? Is it really a Mutated Floor Master?” Ink Qilin asked in eagerness and doubt.

The Underground Crystal Palace’s Floor Masters could be regarded as the biggest treasure of the secret land’s every floor. And although mutated monsters were considerably stronger than their non-mutated counterparts, the loot they dropped would also be significantly better.

“I’m sure, Big Sis Qilin,” Blaze Eye affirmed.

“Okay! Send us the coordinates! We’ll head over there right away! In the meantime, hurry up and set up a fog barrier! We mustn’t let other teams discover the Mutated Floor Master!” Ink Qilin instructed.

Quite a few teams had already arrived on the fourth floor by now. If other teams were to discover the Mutated Floor Master, a battle of epic proportions was bound to ensue.