Chapter 2470 – Fortress Unlocked

Quite some time had passed after Shi Feng left the reception room before Fithalia and the others managed to snap out of their daze.

“Has Guild Leader Black Flame always been such an impulsive person?” Fithalia could not help but ask as she turned to look at MacAffrey and Crimson Witch. Her mind couldn’t keep up with Shi Feng’s pace at all.

When fighting over interests, superpowers rarely started with a declaration of war. They would generally choose to settle things with discussions. Only if negotiations broke down would they take action. After all, a war between two superpowers was no trivial matter. Regardless of the outcome, both sides would end up suffering significant—and even irreparable—losses.

Meanwhile, she had merely proposed to negotiate with Netherworld Empire and asked Shi Feng to prepare to make some minor concessions, yet Shi Feng had flat-out rejected her proposal and decided to clash with the Great Super Guild to the very end.

This simply wasn’t a decision a Guild Leader would make. Only a fool would do so.

Of course, she also found Shi Feng’s decision understandable.

Zero Wing had gone to great lengths to capture the Starlight Fortress. However, just as it was about to start harvesting its profits, a bunch of people suddenly appeared to claim a share of these profits. Any normal person would get enraged by this matter. However, such a situation frequently occurred in both the real world and the virtual world.

In a situation where one was weaker than the other party, opting for a frontal clash was an extremely unwise decision.

This was especially true now that more than a dozen superpowers were targeting the Starlight Fortress. So long as one of these superpowers took the lead, they would attack the Starlight Fortress without hesitation. At that time, even if these superpowers failed to capture the Starlight Fortress, they would still cripple its operation.

Unlike other fortresses, the Starlight Fortress did not have any NPC soldiers to assist in its management; players had to rely entirely on themselves. Moreover, the ruling power would have only partial authority over the fortress and was incapable of prohibiting entry to certain players by manipulating the fortress magic array. If the ruling power wished to prevent entry to certain players, it would have to rely on its own players to do so. This was also the case when it came to settling fights that occurred within the fortress.

Meanwhile, over a dozen superpowers were targeting the Starlight Fortress, including Netherworld Empire. So long as these superpowers dispatched experts to cause a ruckus inside the Starlight Fortress, stopping them would be impossible with the manpower and strength Zero Wing and Divine Tribe possessed. In fact, Zero Wing and Divine Tribe wouldn’t even be able to stop the various superpowers from entering the Starlight Fortress.

If this situation persisted, who would dare visit the Starlight Fortress?

“Guild Leader Black Flame is indeed a very straightforward person. However, even I did not expect him to be so resolute in his stance that he won’t even negotiate,” MacAffrey said. Likewise, Shi Feng’s decisive response exceeded his expectations.

“Commander Fithalia, what should we do next? There is no room for discussions on Zero Wing’s side. Are we really going to clash with the various superpowers?” Crimson Witch asked worriedly.

After partnering with Zero Wing, Divine Tribe had invested a huge amount of resources into developing its temporary Residence in the Starlight Fortress. Divine Tribe had even drafted a series of plans around the Starlight Fortress and invested a large portion of the Guild’s resources into these plans.

If the Starlight Fortress really became a no man’s land, then Divine Tribe’s investments would come to naught.

“I am familiar with Hell Rush, the commander of Netherworld Empire’s trump card legion. Since he is personally leading the legion over, I will try to negotiate with him,” Fithalia said, chuckling when she saw the worried expression on Crimson Witch’s face. “Moreover, we still haven’t reached that point yet. Once the various superpowers and Netherworld Empire’s members arrive, Guild Leader Black Flame might realize how unwise his decision is. At that time, we might be able to turn things around.”

She had seen plenty of people like Shi Feng before. After all, all experts were very arrogant. Not to mention, Zero Wing had managed to capture the Starlight Fortress, something none of the western continent’s superpowers had managed. It was only natural for him to have confidence in his Guild’s strength and not be afraid to fight the various superpowers.

However, once the various superpowers’ experts gathered and Shi Feng personally experienced the strength of these superpowers, it wouldn’t be strange if he changed his mind. After all, he had just arrived on the western continent recently and did not understand just how powerful the superpowers here were. He also wasn’t aware of just how formidable Netherworld Empire was.

While Fithalia and the others were discussing how to deal with the various superpowers, Shi Feng arrived at the main office on the Fortress Lord’s Mansion’s third floor to assume control over the entire Starlight Fortress.

Previously, although he had unlocked the magic array sealing the Fortress Lord’s Mansion and even allowed Fire Dance and the others to enter the mansion’s Legacy Room, he still hadn’t gained control over the Starlight Fortress.

This was because an ancient fortress’s Fortress Lord’s Token did not automatically confer the ruling rights to the fortress on its holder. Players still needed to go through a simple takeover procedure.

When Shi Feng opened the doors to the main office, he was greeted by the sight of an elderly man in butler attire standing inside the old and obsolete office.

Although this elderly man was only a phantom and radiated no aura, he was a near-invincible existence while inside this Fortress Lord’s Mansion. At the same time, he was the true ruler of the entire Starlight Fortress.

“Wielder of the Fortress Lord’s Token, I am Osset, the Starlight Fortress’s administrator. How may I be of service?” Osset asked respectfully when he saw Shi Feng enter.

“I wish to receive control over the Starlight Fortress,” Shi Feng said, declaring his intentions.

Ancient fortresses were different from other fortresses. All authority over the fortress was vested in the administrator. Hence, ancient fortresses would always remain in a semi-controlled state.

If players holding the Fortress Lord’s Token wished to gain any control over the ancient fortress they captured, they had to get it from the fortress’s administrator. Meanwhile, an administrator would pass on their authority only if players possessed the Fortress Lord’s Mark obtained from the fortress’s Legacy Gate. Otherwise, they would only be a fake Fortress Lord, who could be replaced at any given time.

Before players gained authority from the fortress administrator, the entire fortress would acknowledge only the Fortress Lord’s Token and not its holder. Moreover, the Fortress Lord’s Token offered no protection to players. And worse, players had to keep the Fortress Lord’s Token at all times; if the token was brought out of the fortress for too long, it would be automatically teleported back to the fortress and appear in a random location inside.

Only by obtaining a Fortress Lord’s Mark and, subsequently, authority from the fortress administrator would players be considered the partial ruler of an ancient fortress. Players could then store their Fortress Lord’s Token in the core room of the Fortress Lord’s Mansion, utilizing the mansion’s defensive magic array to protect it.

Unless someone else attacked the Fortress Lord’s Mansion and obtained the token from the core room, players would no longer have to worry about losing control over their fortress.

Moreover, after obtaining the authority to rule an ancient fortress, players could also activate some of the fortress’s functions. Among them, the most important would be the Fortress Prison.

This was an incredible function that none of the newly constructed fortresses possessed.

This function was incredible because it allowed the ruler of the fortress to imprison players. So long as players were captured, they would suffer a fate even worse than death. Unless players had fulfilled their sentence or someone outside destroyed the prison itself, imprisoned players couldn’t come out of the Fortress Prison. It wouldn’t matter even if the imprisoned players killed themselves; they would respawn right back in their cell.

Getting imprisoned was a brutal penalty for players. After all, in God’s Domain, time was money, especially for frontline players. Being jailed and prevented from doing anything for several days would cause them to fall behind significantly.

Meanwhile, the Fortress Prison of a Small Fortress, like the Starlight Fortress, could imprison players for a maximum of eight days.

Eight days!

If an expert player suddenly lost eight days’ worth of time, they would most likely lose the will to continue living. This was why Shi Feng dared to oppose the various superpowers.

So what if the various superpowers possessed a lot of experts?

If they dared make a ruckus in the fortress, he would capture and imprison them all. He was eager to see just how many Tier 3 experts the various superpowers had for him to imprison for eight days.

As for destroying the Fortress Prison and freeing the imprisoned players, the various superpowers would be dreaming if they thought they could accomplish this feat.

The Fortress Prison possessed an incredibly powerful defensive magic array. Once it was activated, even Tier 5 existences shouldn’t think of breaking into the Fortress Prison. In fact, breaking into the Fortress Lord’s Mansion would be even easier than breaking into the Fortress Prison.

Very well.” Osset summoned a fourfold magic array beneath Shi Feng’s feet. He then continued, “After inspection, it seems you possess one Bronze Mark and one Silver Mark. You have automatically gained the Silver Fortress Authority. You may activate one Bronze Fortress Privilege and one Silver Fortress Privilege. Do you wish to choose which privileges to activate now?”

“Yes,” Shi Feng said, nodding.

“Here is a list of all the Bronze and Silver Privileges available. You may choose one from each category,” Osset said, waving his hand. Immediately, a translucent screen appeared before Shi Feng.

In the next moment, two columns of choices appeared on the screen.

The first column was a list of the available Bronze Privileges. There was a total of three options: Fortress Prison, Fortress Restaurant, and Fortress Hotel.

The second column listed the available Silver Privileges. Similarly, there were three options available: Manafication Tower, Object Creation Tower, and Summoning Tower.

So, these are the Starlight Fortress’s Silver Privileges? Surprise flashed in Shi Feng’s eyes as he looked at the three entries under the Silver Privileges column.

He had seen many Silver Fortress Privileges before. However, the Starlight Fortress’s Silver Privileges could definitely rival those of Large Fortresses.

The Manafication Tower was something that could further increase the density of the fortress’s ambient Mana.

Although the Starlight Fortress’s Mana density was already very high, if the effects of the Manafication Tower were included, then its Mana density would most likely surpass even Zero Wing City’s.

The Object Creation Tower was a sacred training ground for Lifestyle players because it housed Advanced Meditation Rooms and Intermediate Research Rooms. Even a player with subpar talent would have a high chance of becoming a Master Lifestyle player if they could constantly work inside the Object Creation Tower.

The Summoning Tower was something Shi Feng had seen only once before inside a Medium Fortress. However, the Summoning Tower was categorized as a Gold Privilege back then.

As its name suggested, the Summoning Tower had only one function: the summoning of creatures.

Once provided with the appropriate medium, the Summoning Tower could summon creatures of a similar race to act as the fortress’s guardian. The stronger the medium, the stronger the summoned creature would be. Only one creature could be summoned in a month, and only one creature could be maintained in existence at a time.

This ability might not seem like much, but it was incredibly powerful in reality.

This was because there were no restrictions on the creature that could be summoned. In other words, if players managed to get their hands on the remains of a Tier 6 God, they could summon a Tier 6 God to defend their fortress.

A Tier 6 God!

This was an existence that even Tier 6 God-ranked players had to avoid crossing. If the Starlight Fortress had a Tier 6 God defending it, let alone attacking the fortress, nobody would dare make a scene in the entire map because the entire map the fortress sat on lay within the fortress guardian’s range of activity.

“Wielder of the Fortress Lord’s Token, please make your decision,” Osset reminded Shi Feng after seeing the latter remaining quiet for a long time.