Chapter 1 The Stone Forest City Lord's Mansion

The Stone Forest City Lord's Mansion differed from the directly constructed Zero Wing City. It wasn't a castle, but rather a spacious courtyard surrounded by thick stone walls. The simple, heavy iron gates were tightly closed, guarded by two full squads of Tier 2 NPC soldiers. Even expert players couldn't hope to step inside.

As Shi Feng approached the iron gates, the guarding Tier 2 NPC soldiers immediately swung them wide open, standing silently on either side to respectfully welcome him in.

"As expected, the defenses here are much stronger," Shi Feng mused, glancing at the water curtain barrier inside the gate.

Absolute Barrier!

Zero Wing City didn't have such a thing.

In God's Domain, the difference between towns and cities was immense. Even the methods of conquering them were completely different. To capture a guild town, all one had to do was seize the town token in the guild residence. But with a guild city, one had to conquer the City Lord's Mansion.

The two might seem similar, but they were worlds apart.

First, there were the defensive magic arrays. Guild residences usually had to acquire their own defenses, and advanced defensive magic arrays were extremely difficult to obtain. However, the City Lord's Mansion had a natural defensive magic array that was stronger than the ones outside the city, although it was driven by less magic power and couldn't last as long as the city's defensive magic array.

Second, no matter how the guild residence in a town was rebuilt, it wouldn't affect the town itself. But rebuilding the City Lord's Mansion could affect the entire city.

Because the City Lord's Mansion was the core of the city, the stronger the City Lord's Mansion, the stronger the city would become.

However, improving the City Lord's Mansion wasn't easy. It required not only a lot of money, but also various super-rare resources and treasures.

That was why the development speed of guild cities was always very slow, unlike guild towns, which only needed enough fame, money, and a large number of players.

In God's Domain, cities that were promoted were generally stronger than those that were built directly, especially those promoted with a Gold Token.

The Absolute Barrier was the best proof of this.

In his previous life, Shi Feng had only managed to create an Absolute Barrier after developing a city into an Intermediate City. Now, he had one simply by being promoted. The difference was truly significant.

Although the Absolute Barrier wasn't like a defensive magic array that could withstand attacks from the outside, its use was no less important. It could block invisible attacks and cut off the connection between the City Lord's Mansion and the outside world.

If a player was inside the City Lord's Mansion, they couldn't contact the outside world without permission, making it a great way to deal with spies in the guild and prevent them from transmitting information immediately.

Therefore, many of the guild's important meetings were held in the City Lord's Mansion to prevent information from leaking out quickly and being used by enemies.

With the Absolute Barrier, Zero Wing now had a relatively confidential place, so they wouldn't have to set up defenses everywhere for future actions, preventing many large plans from being implemented.

Shi Feng then walked into the City Lord's Mansion. Inside the walls was a garden with grass and flowers, birds singing, giving the impression that it could be easily captured, unlike the heavily guarded City Lord's Mansion of Zero Wing City.

Shi Feng was already used to this.

Although Stone Forest City was promoted, it had only just become a city. It would still require a lot of money and resources to develop the interior of the City Lord's Mansion to the level of the current Zero Wing City Lord's Mansion. This was why the various super forces wanted to attack Stone Forest City when it was first promoted.

After all, the City Lord's Mansion hadn't been developed yet, making it the easiest time to conquer it.

If it developed to the point of becoming a world of its own, even Tier 5 classes would sigh in despair.

Although he had defeated the various super forces this time and defended Stone Forest City, he wasn't sure if he could defend it in the future, so he had to improve Stone Forest City as soon as possible.

Originally, Tianji Pavilion wanted Stone Forest City to wait two or three days before opening it up, so that they could make enough defensive arrangements, but Tianji Pavilion didn't know that Shi Feng couldn't afford to wait.

Because whether it was the current Silverwing Town, the development of the guild itself, or even the development of Stone Forest City, they all needed a lot of gold coins and resources. However, Zero Wing was constantly fighting with Star Ring, and its gold coins and resources were extremely short.

Even though he had obtained a lot of top-quality weapons and equipment from the various super forces this time, it was nothing compared to the demand for weapons and equipment in the guild warehouse, and he couldn't sell them either.

The only way now was to open up Stone Forest City as soon as possible.

Shi Feng then walked into a three-story building in the courtyard. Inside the building stood an NPC old man, who was the manager of the entire City Lord's Mansion. His level was very low, only level 10, but he was in an invincible state, and no player could cause damage.

"Lord City Lord, is there anything I can do for you?" the City Lord's Mansion butler asked with a smile as he looked at Shi Feng walking over.

"I want to lift the blockade on Stone Forest City," Shi Feng said directly.

After Stone Forest City was promoted, the entire city was in a state of blockade. Players who didn't have permission couldn't enter without breaking the defensive magic array and the city walls. If he wanted other players to enter, he had to lift the blockade.

"I will do it right away, but after lifting the blockade, how much do you plan to charge for the entrance fee?" the City Lord's Mansion butler said slowly. "The current scale of Stone Forest City requires a minimum charge of 40 Copper Coins."

"A minimum of 40 Copper Coins?" Shi Feng couldn't help but smile. "Then what's the maximum?"

He had finally transferred Stone Forest Town to the Abyssal Passage and promoted it from a town to a city, so naturally he couldn't follow the minimum standard.

"The current maximum that can be charged is three Silver Coins. If you want to increase it further, you need to further upgrade the city," the City Lord's Mansion butler calculated and replied in a low voice.

"Then set it to three Silver Coins," Shi Feng said without hesitation.

In God's Domain, the entrance fee wasn't determined by how players wanted to set it. There were upper and lower limits, and these upper and lower limits were determined by the geographical location and the degree of development of the city. The lower limit of Zero Wing City was 30 Copper Coins, while the current Stone Forest City required 40 Copper Coins.

Zero Wing City had previously set it to 30 Copper Coins in the beginning to attract players, but as more and more players poured in, the entrance fee had slowly increased to 80 Copper Coins.

However, the situation of Stone Forest City was different. It was located on the first floor of the Abyssal Passage, which also meant that the number of players who could come here wouldn't be very large, so naturally it couldn't be set too low. After all, Stone Forest City was currently the only resting place in the Abyssal Passage. Unlike Zero Wing City, it was a necessity in the Abyssal Passage.

"Yes, I will do it right away." The City Lord's Mansion butler immediately bowed and left.

In less than five minutes after the City Lord's Mansion butler left, a regional system announcement was heard throughout Stone Forest City, announcing that the entire Stone Forest City had been unblocked and officially opened to the public.