Chapter 2552 – Fragmented Divine Artifact’s Effects

As Shi Feng exposed the Tree of Life’s Sapling to the air in the quiet courtyard, the Mana in the area rampaged, frantically gathering around the sapling.

After a moment, Shi Feng felt a pulse of life from the sapling, and its aura grew powerful enough to be visible. The surrounding plants began to grow with astonishing speed as the green energy reached them.

Success! Shi Feng released a held breath as he watched the sapling’s reaction.

If this courtyard’s Mana hadn’t been dense enough to accommodate the sapling, he would’ve had no choice but to give up on it and try to nurture the young tree after promoting Stone Forest City into a Main City. However, upgrading a Guild City to that rank was incredibly difficult. Not only did the ruling Guild need to be powerful enough, but it would also need a lot of time to develop its city.

Carefully, Shi Feng planted the sapling in the center of the courtyard.

He had designed the courtyard and specifically reserved a plot of land in its center for the Tree of Life. To be precise, he had designed a small island in the center of a lake within the courtyard. Not only had he engraved a Mana Gathering Magic Array into the lake bed, but he had also embedded plenty of Mana Stones into the soil. As a result, the lakewater brimmed with Mana. Overall, the lake alone had a daily upkeep of nearly 200 Mana Stones. The various superpowers of his past had considered this the standard configuration for growing a Tree of Life.

The necessary Mana Stones required to maintain the Tree of Life alone would’ve been more than enough to give current first-rate Guilds a heart attack. Ordinary powers simply couldn’t afford to play with Trees of Life. Fortunately he had the Philosopher’s Hand.

After Shi Feng planted the sapling, the air in the courtyard seemed to vibrate.

The tranquil, cool atmosphere became scorchingly hot for a time. It even got to Shi Feng.

After about three seconds, the sapling shot up into a large, emerald tree. Its trunk was so thick that it would require three fully grown men to just barely be able to wrap their arms around it.

The instant the tree reached maturity, dense life aura spread throughout the inner courtyard, tinting everything with a faint shade of green. The high temperature also began to fall to a pleasant warmth. Shi Feng felt as if he were standing in the middle of a field on a warm, sunny day.

Is this an effect of a Fragmented Divine Artifact? Shi Feng wondered, astonished, as he felt the transformations to the inner courtyard.

Just planting the Tree of Life had filled the courtyard with life energy, and it was incredibly dense. Bathing in the aura, Shi Feng could sense the foreign energy within him rapidly disappear, and his mind felt unusually refreshed.

This sensation wasn’t like the calm indifference players experienced when around highly dense Mana. Rather, Shi Feng’s mind felt pure and rejuvenated. It was as if all of his thoughts had been given clear, distinct paths, and he knew exactly what to do.

If players could practice combat techniques here, they would have a much easier time learning them. Players needed a clear understanding of the techniques to practice and better-execute them, after all.

It’s a pity that I can’t let just anyone enter this courtyard. Shi Feng gave the Tree of Life a bitter smile.

The Tree of Life had already taken root, and any player could discover the tree’s identity with an ordinary Identification Skill. If news got out that Stone Forest City housed a Fragmented Divine Artifact ranked Tree of Life, not even NPC powers would leave Zero Wing in peace, much less players. Everyone would do everything in their power to steal it.

Even so, Shi Feng was very satisfied with this outcome. The Tree of Life’s bonus effects weren’t his goal, but the items it would produce.

He urgently needed both the Water of Life and the Nuclei of Life. The tree would also produce the Fruits of Life, which were godly tools for NPCs and players’ development.

Now, he just needed to wait for the Tree of Life to produce these items.

With the matter of the Tree of Life resolved, Shi Feng contacted Gentle Snow to ask, “Snow, how are the arrangements on your side coming along?”

“Everyone’s in position. After our discussion, we’ve set the entrance fee to 20 Silver. Any player capable of exploring Level 100 neutral maps is an expert, so they should be able to afford that price,” Gentle Snow said.

Even at 10 Silver per person, Stone Forest City’s player population had maxed out. Now that Stone Forest City was an Intermediate City, not only had the Mana density within its walls increased, but NPC trading firms’ Shops were also available.

Hence, Gentle Snow and her subordinates had agreed that even if they doubled the entrance fee, Stone Forest City’s player population might still skyrocket. The quests the NPC trading firms offered provided a significant portion of players’ income, which was why so many experts insisted on keeping their base of operations in NPC cities.

“Twenty Silver? You guys are vicious.” Shi Feng was a little surprised to hear the new entrance fee. Moreover, based on the woman’s expression, she must still consider the price a little low. Revealing a bitter smile, Shi Feng continued, “That seems fair, but we are trying to develop Zero Wing as quickly as possible, and to do that, we’ll need to attract as many experts to the city as we can. Normally, expert players have their own private teams, which include players of low standards. If those players cannot survive in Stone Forest City, their expert friends will go elsewhere.”

Stone Forest City was much larger than it had been, and it would even have plenty of room to spare if 7 or 8 million players visited. They no longer had to limit access to experts to develop the city. The more players within the city, the more prosperous it would become. In turn, more NPCs would visit, particularly those of other races.

Furthermore, money was no longer a problem for the Guild now that Zero Wing was capable of intercontinental travel. Rather than focus on money, they should try to grow Zero Wing’s strength. Zero Wing wasn’t nurturing as many Tier 3 players as it had been, and if they wished to attract more within a short time, they’d have to recruit more expert players.

“In that case, should we stick with 10 Silver?” Gentle Snow asked. After listening, she agreed with Shi Feng’s reasoning.

Most of the city’s previous visitors had been experts from the various Guilds and members of powerful adventurer teams. Independent experts only made up a small minority of Stone Forest City’s player population. However, she hadn’t paid much attention to the matter since Stone Forest City had only been able to accommodate so many players.

Now that mainstream players had reached Level 100, it would be unwise to increase the city’s entrance fee too much as they needed to recruit more players into Zero Wing and nurture more Tier 3 experts.

“No. Lower it to the minimum 5 Silver,” Shi Feng decided.

“F-Five?” Gentle Snow stuttered, stunned.

Stone Forest City was now an Intermediate City. Maintaining the original entrance fee would already be a major concession. She didn’t even want to imagine what would become of the city if they lowered the entrance fee to 5 Silver.

“Mhm, just set it to 5 Silver,” Shi Feng said, nodding. “It’s about time we make some changes in Zero Wing.”

Shi Feng then instructed Gentle Snow to open the city to the public after adjusting the entrance fee.

Meanwhile, the numerous independent and Guild players outside of the city were growing impatient. They all shared their guesses about Stone Forest City’s abrupt promotion.

“Is Zero Wing really going to make us wait outside for an entire day?”

“I doubt it. There’s too many of us out here. The entrance fees alone will be more than enough to make any power jealous. How could Zero Wing possibly pass on so much money?”

“Huh? Look! Stone Forest City is open!”