Chapter 189 – Difference in Status

The words of the two NPC guard captains surprised and stunned everyone present in the lobby.

“I must be hallucinating! Since when did NPC guards start treating players so respectfully?!”

“Could those guards be fake? He’s already crossed the cordon. Even the Glimmering Sword with her Vice City Lord status would be killed if she did that. Yet, why aren’t these guards taking action?”

Everyone was confused when they saw the NPC guard captains behaving so respectfully in front of Shi Feng. Even Echoing Judgment, who had tried to stop Shi Feng, froze as he looked at this situation in disbelief.

NPC guards were incredibly rigid, and they would never show mercy to players. Even players who had received the Vice City Lord status could only get NPC guards to move when ordering them to exercise their authority to banish players. Moreover, these NPC guards would only show these Vice City Lords a cold expression throughout their entire interaction.

Yet, now, the two NPC guard captains wore a look of reverence as they faced Shi Feng.

Indeed! Reverence!

This was an expression that one would typically only see civilian NPCs making when standing in front of players with the Upper-class Noble or Vice City Lord status. Or, more specifically, NPCs would only show such an expression when the player they faced possessed a vastly superior status.

Could his status be higher than even Vice City Lords? Echoing Judgment wondered as he looked at Shi Feng in disbelief.

Over the past several decades, the Vice City Lord status was known to be the highest status a player could achieve in the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s NPC Cities. It was also a symbol for the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s strongest combatants. This fact had remained unchanged throughout the past several decades.

Aside from Echoing Judgment, Night Revenant was similarly confused by this situation.

Obstructing NPC guards from carrying out their duties was an offense punishable by death. Even Vice City Lords would be killed mercilessly if they tried to do so. There was no room for negotiations whatsoever.

While everyone was bewildered by this situation, Shi Feng pointed at Blackie’s group and said to the two NPC guard captains, “These are my friends. I can assure you that they have never done anything to challenge a Vice City Lord’s authority. This is just the slander of Vice City Lord Solitary Soul!”

“We trust in your words, Lord Legatee. In addition, since these people are your friends, they can naturally keep on living in the city. However, they will still have to abide by Slumber City’s laws. Otherwise, even if they are your friends, they will still have to face Slumber City’s punishment, Lord Legate,” one of the guard captains said as he did a knight’s salute. Then, he said to the NPC guards surrounding Blackie’s group, “Everyone, stand down. These people are innocent.”

“Understood!”

The NPC guards promptly kept away their weapons and stopped targeting Blackie’s group.

Meanwhile, the NPC guards’ behavior thoroughly dumbfounded everyone present.

“Even a Vice City Lord’s authority is useless against him?”

“I must be dreaming! This is a banishment order from a Vice City Lord! Even another Vice City Lord wouldn’t have the authority to dismiss this order! Who is that guy?”

“I heard the guard captain referring to him as Lord Legatee just now. Could there be an obtainable status higher than the Vice City Lord status?”

“How can that be? Vice City Lord has been the highest obtainable status in the various NPC Cities for so many years already. How can an outsider like him have a status higher than the Vice City Lords of Slumber City?”

Shi Feng’s action of getting the NPC guards to withdraw with only a few words greatly shocked the spectating crowd. Even the executives of Slumber City’s various powers, such as Echoing Judgment, gaped in shock at this sight.

Before today, the authority of Vice City Lords was unshakable in the various NPC Cities. What Shi Feng just did was unprecedented in Slumber City. Moreover, the NPC guards had withdrawn from the scene so decisively, making it seem like the Vice City Lord’s position Solitary Soul had gone through great lengths to obtain was nothing but a joke.

“How did you do it, Guild Leader?” Blackie asked through the team chat. Although he was still feeling a little nervous even after seeing the NPC guards withdraw, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity any longer.

Blackie wasn’t the only one curious to know what had happened exactly. Crimson Heart, Blood Hammer, and the others were also eager to learn about the situation.

Their team of twenty had entered the Stratified Abyssal Realm together. This was also their first time entering the Abyssal Tower and obtaining status in Slumber City. Yet, just when they thought that they were finally on the same starting line as Shi Feng after obtaining an Upper-class Noble status, they came to realize that Shi Feng was still leagues ahead of them.

Crimson Heart and Cleansed Rue were especially confused by this situation since the two of them were well aware of Zero Wing’s situation. They were the ones who brought Shi Feng into this Stratified Abyssal Realm, so they knew that this was definitely Shi Feng’s first time visiting this Stratified Abyssal Realm. In addition, even if Shi Feng possessed more knowledge about God’s Domain than they did, there were many different Stratified Abyssal Realms in God’s Domain, and not all information on the various Stratified Abyssal Realms was universal.

Yet, after entering this Stratified Abyssal Realm, not only did the gap between them and Shi Feng not shorten, but it even felt like it was growing larger and larger.

Moreover, it was also because of Shi Feng that Hundred Flower Palace’s members managed to survive the ordeal this time.

“Nothing special. It’s just that my authority is slightly higher than his,” Shi Feng explained through the team chat.

“Slightly higher?” When Blood Hammer heard Shi Feng’s answer, he couldn’t help but ask, “Could you have cleared the fourth floor’s trial already, Guild Leader Black Flame?”

The Abyssal Tower’s trial space had five floors. So long as one managed to clear the third floor’s trial, one would gain the status of an Upper-class Noble.

Find the original at h*sted novel.

Blood Hammer and the others had struggled desperately just to clear the third floor’s trial. Even then, they had barely managed to complete it before they ran out of time. As for the fourth floor’s trial, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it was a despair-inducing challenge.

Not only did they have to go up against Mythic monsters on the fourth floor, but they even had to fight nine of them simultaneously.

It should be known that the Abyssal Tower’s trial wasn’t merely a test of strength. It was also a test of adaptability.

However, adapting to the trial space’s Mana environment was simply too difficult of a task. Just getting their bodies to adapt to the flow of the trial space’s Dark Mana was already their limit. They had no energy to spare to research and construct the magic array outlined by the Dark Mana.

“Mhm. I passed it by luck,” Shi Feng said, nodding.

Players would need to successfully construct the magic array composed entirely of Dark Mana if they wanted to have a chance at clearing the fourth floor’s trial.

However, normally, even a Grandmaster Magician like himself shouldn’t have been able to construct the magic array within such a short period of time. This was because the arrangement of the Dark Mana was rather unique. If he hadn’t become a Primal Human and obtained the Eyes of Reality, which allowed him to see the Dark Mana’s operating principles clearly, he wouldn’t have been able to see the magic array’s entire structure. Naturally, he wouldn’t have been able to draw the entire magic array, either.

Meanwhile, realization dawned on Blood Hammer, Crimson Heart, and the others when they saw Shi Feng nodding. They also couldn’t help but smile bitterly over the gap between them.

If Shi Feng had managed to conquer the despair-inducing fourth-floor trial, it was completely understandable for him to obtain a position above Upper-class Nobles. It wouldn’t even be strange if he had managed to obtain status surpassing that of Vice City Lords.

According to Echoing Judgment, not a single player in the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s various NPC Cities had ever managed to clear the Abyssal Tower’s fourth floor. Echoing Judgment had even gone as far as to say that the fourth-floor trial was a prank by the Main God System, and no player could ever complete it.

On the other side, Echoing Judgment breathed a deep sigh of relief when he saw the NPC guards disbanding their cordon.

Now that Shi Feng’s team could remain inside Slumber City, there was nothing Death Curse could do against them. At most, Shi Feng’s team would have to be a little more careful when leaving the city. However, now that Shi Feng’s team had eight Upper-class Nobles, they’d have no trouble gaining many followers and the partnership of Slumber City’s various peak powers.

However, as soon as Echoing Judgment sighed in relief, Shi Feng set his sights on the two NPC guard captains once more and asked, “Captains, in view of Vice City Lord Solitary Soul’s slanderous behavior towards my friends, may I know if I have any authority to sanction him?”