Chapter 1 The Earth's Core Mountain Range, Rock Nest Fortress

The entire Rock Nest Fortress stood imposingly on the cliff face of the canyon. From the outside, the fortress resembled a nest, easy to defend and difficult to attack, hence its name. At this moment, tens of thousands of experts, all above level 85, were frantically clearing the Blackrock Orcs from the fortress.

The original garrison of hundreds of thousands of Blackrock Orcs was now reduced to less than a hundred thousand. In the center of the fortress, an Orc King, over four meters tall, lay quietly on the ground, surrounded by scattered weapons, equipment, and various materials, a dazzling sight.

"I never thought that capturing a fortress could bring such a great harvest. No wonder the Thirteen Royal Courts are eager to capture a second one," Nine Dragons Emperor said, looking at the weapons, equipment, and rare materials scattered on the ground, deeply moved.

In the Earth's Core Mountain Range, monsters above the Great Lord rank were quite difficult to find, but in the Rock Nest Fortress, they were in abundance. Moreover, due to the initial clearing, the drop rate was even better than outside.

Simply clearing out the Blackrock Orcs inside the fortress would yield at least ten thousand pieces of equipment. Moreover, these weapons and equipment were all level 90 or higher, with even some level 100 equipment.

Although the quality of these weapons and equipment was not high, mostly Mithril grade, with very few Fine-Gold grade, they were more than enough as transitional gear. At least, once they reached level 90, they could start raiding level 90 super-large team dungeons without needing to make too many preparations.

"That's natural. Every fortress in the Earth's Core Mountain Range is a treasure trove. Originally, War Blood and Star Ring joined forces to capture a medium-sized fortress, but we didn't expect Zero Wing to actually capture the Northern Fortress, forcing us to advance our plans," Sworn Blood Battle Soul said with a cold gaze. "Zero Wing thinks that by capturing the Northern Fortress, they can challenge our War Blood on Dragonheart Island. I'll let them know that even with the Northern Fortress, they still won't be able to survive on Dragonheart Island."

"Yes! Zero Wing is arrogant and doesn't know the means of Captain Sworn Blood," Nine Dragons Emperor said with a smile. "Zero Wing is probably panicking now. Without players going to the fortress, even the best fortress is just a waste."

War Blood, Crimson Shadow, and Knight's Sword, the top three adventure teams on Dragonheart Island, joined forces. If the adventure teams on Dragonheart Island wanted to survive, they wouldn't dare to disobey the will of these three major adventure teams. Moreover, War Blood and Star Ring had blockaded the entire northern region, so anyone from Zero Wing who came would find it impossible to escape.

This meant that the entire Northern Fortress, except for Zero Wing and Feng Qianyu's people, would be empty.

A fortress captured in this way would not only fail to become a gold mine but would also become a huge meat grinder, constantly consuming Zero Wing's funds.

The fortresses in the Earth's Core Mountain Range were not like those outside. Orc tides occurred frequently. Not to mention the subsidies for the resident members, the maintenance cost of a small fortress alone could be crippling, let alone a medium-sized fortress.

While Nine Dragons Emperor and Sworn Blood Battle Soul were talking, a beautiful woman with an ancient bow on her back suddenly approached.

"Captain, Zero Wing has made a move. They released a message saying they will go against our War Blood. Any player who dares to enter the Rock Nest Fortress will not be allowed to enter the Northern Fortress," Mo Xinyu said with a smile, holding the news she had just received.

"Competing with our War Blood for influence on Dragonheart Island? It seems Zero Wing is confused. Do they really think Dragonheart Island is Star-Moon Kingdom?" Sworn Blood Battle Soul chuckled. "Or do they think they can make the major forces on Dragonheart Island play the waiting game, reducing our War Blood's profits?"

"Captain Sworn Blood, Hei Yan probably doesn't know that we obtained the Spring of Mana from the Rock Nest Fortress. Otherwise, he would definitely be devastated by his decision," Nine Dragons Emperor also laughed.

The Spring of Mana was a unique building of the Rock Nest Fortress. Although repairing it would cost a considerable amount, even emptying their current liquid funds, the effect of the Spring of Mana was worth it.

Because the Spring of Mana could allow players to fully recover their mental and physical strength in just half an hour, which was extremely attractive to players who were constantly leveling up in the Earth's Core Mountain Range.

After all, the main reason players entered the fortress was to rest and recover their physical and mental strength. Now, they only needed to spend one Ancient Gold Coin to fully recover in half an hour. This was an effect that countless expert players on Dragonheart Island wanted.

Once this news was released, the major forces on Dragonheart Island would not only refrain from going to the Northern Fortress, but even the fortress forces originally on the Thirteen Royal Courts' side would probably rush to the Rock Nest Fortress and use it as a temporary base.

"Since Hei Yan wants to die, I don't mind giving him a push." Sworn Blood Battle Soul turned to Mo Xinyu and said, "Xinyu, immediately send the news of the Spring of Mana to the major forces on Dragonheart Island in secret. Those forces will naturally know what to do."

"Yes!"

Hearing what the captain said, Mo Xinyu couldn't wait to see Shi Feng's desperate expression.

By going against War Blood, they could indeed make the major forces they couldn't control play the waiting game, forcing War Blood to make some concessions, or even more excessive concessions, to get these forces to choose to rest in the Rock Nest Fortress.

But with the Spring of Mana, as long as those forces weren't stupid, they would naturally know which side to choose, unless they didn't care about being surpassed by other forces.

Meanwhile, in the Thirteen Royal Courts' guild residence in Dragonheart City.

"Zero Wing thinks that by obtaining a medium-sized fortress, they can overwhelm War Blood. They probably still don't know how foolish their actions are," Old Wu, who was resting in the office, said, glancing at the news sent by his subordinate and ignoring it. "Qianming, arrange for Little Lu to come to my place. Just say it's about capturing the next medium-sized fortress."

"Yes."

The woman with her face shrouded in black mist smiled and nodded.

In her opinion, Zero Wing's actions were simply foolish, completely unaware of the depth of their forces' foundations.

On the other side, in the Northern Fortress of the Earth's Core Mountain Range, the members of Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion were constantly repairing the damaged fortress under Feng Qianyu's command, while Shi Feng himself was constantly improving the magic arrays on the defensive magic towers.

Although he had spent Magic Crystals and Seven Luminaries Crystals to repair the four defensive magic towers, he had only repaired the core crystals of the defensive magic towers, barely enabling them to activate. The magic circuits spread throughout the magic towers had not been repaired, and this required players to repair them themselves.

Of course, repairing them was not easy. At least, they needed to reach the level of mastering advanced magic arrays, and repairing them took a lot of time. Fortunately, Shi Feng's level in magic arrays was very close to the master level, so repairing them was very fast.

Finally, after replenishing the last magic circuit, the completeness displayed by the defensive magic tower reached 100%.

System: The defensive magic tower has been completely repaired. To activate the defensive magic tower, you need 8,000 Magic Crystals, and the daily consumption fee is 6,000 Magic Crystals. Do you want to activate the defensive magic tower?

"The consumption of a 100% complete defensive magic tower is really high." Shi Feng clicked his tongue slightly when he saw the system bar. This was much higher than the consumption of a normal magic tower. Probably even ordinary first-rate guilds couldn't afford it.

However, Shi Feng didn't hesitate and directly chose to activate the defensive magic tower.

After Shi Feng injected the Magic Crystals, a double magic array that covered the sky and blocked the sun appeared above the entire Northern Fortress. The magic array enveloped the entire Northern Fortress, forming a double-layered magic barrier, which was more than a notch stronger than before the attack.

At the same time, the mana within a range of tens of thousands of yards began to converge towards the Northern Fortress, causing the mana density of the Northern Fortress to increase rapidly. Especially in the central fortress hall, the mana density even formed a faint mist. Any player who was in it felt inexplicably relaxed, and even their experience bar began to store double experience points...

This stunned everyone in the Dragon-Phoenix Pavilion.

"Aqua Rose, how is the fortress's repair progressing?" Shi Feng contacted Aqua Rose and asked.

"Six out of ten parts have been repaired. According to what you said, we prioritized repairing the hotel accommodation issues, so the accommodation aspect has been completely resolved," Aqua Rose said.

"Good, then it can be opened to the public now." Shi Feng smiled and clicked on the Northern Fortress's system bar, directly choosing to open it to the public.