Chapter 2153 – Stone Forest City

The appearance of Stone Forest City immediately caused an uproar among the players present in the Undead Forest.

Stone Forest Town had occupied only a small portion of the area covered by the magic barrier enveloping the center of the Undead Forest. However, Stone Forest City actually occupied nearly half of that area.

Although the wall surrounding Stone Forest City was the default, six-meter-tall wall, it was engraved with divine runes that prevented players from vaulting over it. Unless players breached the wall, they had no choice but to enter the city through the main gate. The defensive capabilities of Stone Forest City were undoubtedly much greater than when it was still a town.

Moreover, after getting promoted to a city, the constructions inside Stone Forest had undergone significant transformations—especially Zero Wing’s Residence. Now, the Guild Hall sitting inside the Residence had transformed into a 60-meter-tall building. It looked like a massive mountain and was visible even from several thousand yards away.

After Zero Wing’s Guild Hall, the structure that had undergone the most changes was the Zero Wing Auction House.

The Zero Wing Auction House was an Advanced Construction. After Stone Forest Town became Stone Forest City, the Auction House became a 12-story-tall building that occupied a significant portion of the city’s main street. The Auction House was already larger than the Auction Houses of ordinary NPC cities.

Moreover, aside from the Auction House, the other constructions in the city also received significant improvements.

“Isn’t Stone Forest City a little too luxurious?!” Purple Jade could not believe her eyes as she took in the towering buildings filling Stone Forest City.

As a core member of the Secret Pavilion, she had seen quite a few Guild Cities. She had even personally conducted an investigation into several of them.

However, she could say with absolute certainty that Stone Forest City was visibly better than every one of the Guild Cities she had visited. In fact, Stone Forest City looked much more splendorous than even the current Zero Wing City. It looked nothing like a recently promoted city at all.

At this moment, Purple Jade wasn’t the only person surprised by Stone Forest City’s appearance. Even Easy Wind was stunned.

The development of a Guild City was a gradual process. All the information the Secret Pavilion had gathered supported this contention. However, Stone Forest City wasn’t following the rules at all.

“Although I don’t know what is going on here, the fact that Stone Forest City has already developed to such an extent means that we’ll have a much greater hope of defending it.” After Yuan Tiexin took a look at the various constructions filling the city, he promptly commanded his subordinates, “Notify the main headquarters immediately and have them transfer reinforcements through the temporary Residence. We need to get Stone Forest City’s defenses fully operational before the various superpowers arrive.”

In God’s Domain, the more prosperous a Guild City was, the more NPC soldiers it could employ. Meanwhile, the constructions within a city played a huge role in determining its prosperity.

With how prosperous Stone Forest City was, it should have a much greater advantage than other newly promoted Guild Cities when it came to recruiting NPC soldiers. There was a huge difference between Tier 1 and Tier 2 NPCs. Tier 2 NPCs, in particular, would have their combat standards affected by a city’s prosperity. The more prosperous the Guild City they worked for was, the better their combat standards would become.

Take one of the few earliest Guild Cities that had appeared in God’s Domain for example. At this point, the Tier 2 NPCs employed by these cities already had combat standards at the late stage of the Trial Tower’s fifth floor. Including the advantage in Basic Attributes that NPCs had over players and their high levels, they could kill Tier 2 experts as if they were toying with ants.

The current Stone Forest City might not be comparable to those old Guild Cities, but the Tier 2 NPC soldiers it hired should be capable of exhibiting combat standards at the fifth floor’s early stage or middle stage.

If Stone Forest City could employ a large number of such Tier 2 NPC soldiers, these soldiers would be a frightening force.

This was also the reason why the various superpowers were so desperate to capture Stone Forest City now.

A Guild City was at its weakest just after completing its promotion. If they allowed Stone Forest City to reach its peak state, the cost of capturing the city would become several dozens of times higher.

However, despite Yuan Tiexin and the others vocally expressing their curiosity about Stone Forest City’s prosperous state, Shi Feng did not give them an explanation. He simply chuckled and entered the city via the main gate.

If he had promoted Stone Forest Town to a Basic City through the normal method, it would indeed have ended up like any other newly promoted Guild City. At most, the new Stone Forest City would occupy a larger area and have a taller wall. The constructions inside the city would remain mostly the same as before.

However, Stone Forest Town was promoted using a Gold Town Promotion Order. Hence, after the town’s promotion, the constructions inside it would be upgraded as well. This could be said to be the hidden benefit of upgrading a town using a promotion order.

Meanwhile, after the crowd outside entered Stone Forest City, everyone received another surprise. Zero Wing’s members, in particular, revealed ecstatic expressions on their faces.

At the moment, Stone Forest City’s Magic Towers were clearly still inactive, yet the city’s Mana density was absurdly high—at least twice as high as Stone Forest Town’s when all three of its Magic Towers were activated.

It should be known that Stone Forest Town was already treated as a sacred training ground by players, as it was capable of improving players’ five senses by 10%.

Stone Forest City’s current Mana density, however, was capable of improving players’ five senses by at least 15%.

Although it was only a 5% increase, it could increase a player’s training efficiency by at least 20%. After all, the greater a player’s five senses were, the more useful their five senses would be in helping them improve their combat standards. Meanwhile, it was incredibly difficult for players to improve their five senses the further up they went.

“If ordinary players could train here, they might even become fifth-floor experts within a month.” Purple Jade’s breathing quickened when she experienced the atmosphere inside Stone Forest City.

Ordinary players might not know how much time and effort it took to become a Trial Tower fifth-floor expert, but the Secret Pavilion did. The Secret Pavilion had specifically carried out a detailed analysis of the topic.

Normally, a relatively talented player would take two or three months to reach the Trial Tower’s fifth floor from an ordinary player’s standard. Needless to say, the average ordinary player would take even longer to accomplish this feat.

However, Purple Jade could say with absolute certainty that, so long as an ordinary player was willing to put in the effort, they could definitely reach the Trial Tower’s fifth floor within a month in Stone Forest City.

The reason why superpowers were able to be known as such was not only their humongous capital but also their excellent training systems. They had specialized research teams tasked with studying and formulating methods of improving the strength of players and creating experts rapidly.

The various superpowers expended an unimaginable amount of time and resources in order to improve the strength of their members quickly. However, most of their investments ended up in disappointment. Moreover, the training methods they did manage to create could be enjoyed by only a small number of players.

Stone Forest City, on the other hand, was a natural training ground. Not only did it yield amazing training effects, but it could also accommodate an astronomical number of players.

When Purple Jade imagined a Guild filled entirely with expert players, her scalp tingled. Most likely, even current Super Guilds would shudder at this thought.

However, during the time the Secret Pavilion’s and Zero Wing’s members were enthusing over the benefits Stone Forest City offered, a huge commotion suddenly erupted in the forest a short distance from the city. The noise was so loud that it echoed throughout the Undead Forest.

In the next moment, three gigantic, flaming elephants walked out of the forest, each one up to 100 meters tall. Their flaming bodies also caused the space around them to blur.

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[Flaming War Elephant] (Elemental Creature, Mythic) Level 85

HP 450,000,000/450,000,000

Aside from these three Flaming War Elephants, several thousand players also emerged from the forest. Every one of these players was Level 66 or above, and they all wore Starlink’s Guild Emblem. Meanwhile, leading these players was none other than Bright Dawn, one of Starlink’s Vice Guild Leaders.