As soon as s.h.i.+ Feng walked out of the Guild Residence's teleportation area, he noticed that the Guild Hall was crowded with players. The bars and restaurants set up there, in particular, were packed with chatting players, the majority of them talking about their recent harvests.
When they saw s.h.i.+ Feng walking out of the teleportation area, they fell silent. In the next moment, however, everyone went into an uproar.
"Guild Leader! It's the Guild Leader!"
"The Guild Leader actually came to White River City's Residence!"
The Guild members present were all excited to see s.h.i.+ Feng, and everyone started greeting him.
To Zero Wing's members, their Guild Leader was a true legend. Not only was he Star-Moon Kingdom's number one expert, but he had also personally established Zero Wing and developed it into the kingdom's number one Guild. Now, Zero Wing was even being recognized as a pseudo-super-first-rate Guild, and it was only a matter of time before it became a real one.
Nowadays, Zero Wing was the most famous Guild in Star-Moon Kingdom and the neighboring kingdoms and empires. If one mentioned Zero Wing's name in the Purple Thorns Kingdom, the Twin Towers Kingdom, and the Black Dragon Empire, the Guilds and powers of these countries would react with awe and fear.
Moreover, after Zero Wing secured its hold over Stone Forest City, countless experts had started fighting to join Zero Wing. At this point, Zero Wing's expert count had long since surpa.s.sed that of first-rate Guilds by leaps and bounds. The average level of Zero Wing's expert players was also shooting up, thanks to the Bottomless Abyss. Due to these positive developments, the Guild was also making rapid progress in Team Dungeons, and its inventory of weapons, equipment, and resources had expanded considerably. Now, Zero Wing was inferior only to the various superpowers. However, compared to the superpowers, the conditions to acquire the weapons and equipment inside Zero Wing's Guild Warehouse were much looser.
Most importantly, the top-tier Crystal Light Set—Dark-Gold Set Equipment that could be used up to Level 80—was exclusive to Zero Wing.
"Guild Leader, you're back." When Aqua Rose came across s.h.i.+ Feng, she quickly reported, "During the time you were absent, the Guild has been developing rapidly. We have recruited many Refinement Realm experts. After including the Lost Town's special training and the complete Refinement Realm Legacy we obtained, we now have 86 Refinement Realm experts.
The S-rank Nutrient Fluids you brought back also allowed quite a few of us to break through. Now, we have seven Flowing Water Realm experts in the Guild."
When Aqua Rose spoke, her voice bubbled with excitement.
Refinement Realm experts were far stronger than ordinary experts. Although G.o.d's Domain provided the perfect environment and tools for players to train themselves, the number of experts capable of reaching the Refinement Realm standard was still extremely low. At this stage of the game, even first-rate Guilds had only a handful of Refinement Realm experts, much less Flowing Water Realm experts.
Logically, even if Zero Wing had the support of all these tools, it shouldn't have many people reaching the Refinement Realm and Flowing Water Realm. Hence, Aqua Rose found this outcome truly unbelievable.
Now, after including the Domain Realm expert Yan Tianxing and Void Realm expert Yi Luofei, Zero Wing possessed a considerably dazzling array of experts. Although the overall strength of Zero Wing's top-tier combatants currently could not rival that of superpowers, the Guild had already gained a portion of the strength necessary to face superpowers in a frontal confrontation.
"We already have so many Refinement Realm experts?" s.h.i.+ Feng was also surprised by this outcome.
He had been gone for only two weeks or so. Before he left, the Guild had only a little over 30 Refinement Realm experts. Now, that number had actually more than doubled. Zero Wing's rate of improvement was simply terrifying.
"This is mostly thanks to our Guild being at its peak. Previously, many members had been stuck at the Half-step Refinement Realm standard. Now that we have the Bottomless Abyss and a complete Refinement Realm Legacy, many finally managed to cross the threshold. In addition, this growth spurt isn't over yet. I believe that in a few more days, the number of Refinement Realm experts our Guild has will increase to 100," Aqua Rose said confidently. "At that time, our Dungeon raiding and map exploration ability will not lose out to those superpowers anymore."
As long as Zero Wing had 100 Refinement Realm experts, it could form 100-man teams to raid the truly top-tier Dungeons and even explore the Bottomless Abyss's second floor. Raiding powerful Field Bosses wouldn't be a problem anymore, either. Now, Zero Wing could also take advantage of the resources the various superpowers had been monopolizing all this time.
"No, we have enough already," s.h.i.+ Feng said, chuckling. "Have everyone gather. I'm forming a 100-man exploration team."
Zero Wing's development speed truly exceeded his expectations. Originally, he thought that he would have to wait another month or two before the Guild would have so many Refinement Realm experts. Now, he was even more confident of defeating Starlink in the upcoming compet.i.tion.
"Exploration?" Aqua Rose fell into a daze momentarily when she heard s.h.i.+ Feng's words. However, she quickly snapped out of it and said excitedly, "Wonderful! I'll contact them immediately!"
Zero Wing's members had been eagerly awaiting the day when they could explore high-level maps. Previously, they could only watch as the various superpowers explored these maps and collected all sorts of top-tier equipment and treasures. Although Zero Wing had the Crystal Light Set, after all was said and done, the set equipment was useful only to plate armor cla.s.ses. The equipment standards of Zero Wing's cloth and leather armor cla.s.ses were still far from comparable to that of the superpowers. Zero Wing also did not possess as many powerful tools as the superpowers.
After merely 30 minutes, all the players Aqua Rose contacted had gathered in White River City's Guild Hall. Of the a.s.sembled players, the majority were at Level 75, and even the weakest piece of equipment on them was Level 75 Fine- Gold rank. This would definitely be considered top-tier equipment in the outside world, and even the main force members of first-rate Guilds would envy these players. After all, most Guild experts had just reached Level 75 recently. Obtaining Level 75 top-tier equipment was still incredibly difficult.
"Guild Leader, which location are we going to explore? The Bottomless Abyss's second floor?" Blackie asked when he saw the gathered players.
He had been to the Bottomless Abyss's second floor before, and the drop-rate of equipment and treasures there was on a whole new level compared to the first-floor's drop-rate. The quality of the loot was also much higher. Killing any random Field Boss would net Level 75 Dark-Gold Equipment with absolute certainty. It was even rumored that some superpowers had obtained individual parts of Level 75 Dark-Gold Set Equipment from these Field Bosses.
However, the monsters on the second floor were not only extremely powerful but also endless. Unless players could simultaneously raid a Field Boss and deal with an endless stream of mobs, survival was almost impossible.
Unfortunately, Zero Wing did not have the strength to survive on the second floor right now; at this point, only the various superpowers did.
Hence, both Blackie and everyone else present had been looking forward to the day when they, too, could set foot onto the Bottomless Abyss's second floor.
"No, we're not going to the Bottomless Abyss," s.h.i.+ Feng said, shaking his head. Smiling, he continued, "We're going to the Level 100 neutral map, the Endless Desert!"
Level 100 was a major turning point in G.o.d's Domain. The changes didn't apply to just players and monsters but also maps. It was no exaggeration to say that the resources contained in pre-100 maps and post-100 maps were as different as heaven and earth. The amount of EXP monsters provided, in particular, was a whole magnitude more.
Meanwhile, the Endless Desert was a vast desert located in the Abandoned Land in the main continent of G.o.d's Domain. Not only was teleportation impossible in the Abandoned Land, but this map was also located extremely far from any kingdom or empire. Moreover, as a Level 100 map, even Level 100, Tier 2 experts would have only a 10% chance of survival when exploring the map, even if players went as a team of 100. The reason for this wasn't just the presence of extremely powerful monsters; it was also the poor environment there. Players below Tier 3 would have a tough time surviving there.
If Tier 2 experts tried entering the Endless Desert, death was almost certain, as the monsters there were even more dangerous than the monsters in the Bottomless Abyss.
Of course, this was only true for the Endless Desert's outer area. The inner area was much safer in comparison.
In the past, after mainstream players' levels exceeded 100, many large Guilds would frequently power-level their low- level members in the Endless Desert's inner area.
To enter the Endless Desert's inner area safely, one had to either be escorted by a powerful team or be familiar with the terrain there. However, even players familiar with the Endless Desert's terrain needed to meet stringent strength requirements. At this stage of the game, aside from s.h.i.+ Feng, n.o.body else in Zero Wing qualified.
Originally, s.h.i.+ Feng had planned to bring the Guild's experts there only after they reached Level 95, to help them reach Level 100 quickly. However, now that he had obtained the Thunder Eagle, ferrying players into the Endless Desert's inner area would be a piece of cake.
