Chapter 1 The City

Shi Feng arrived before the city's gates, two massive doors tightly shut, etched with dark magic纹 (mowen) forming layers of magical barriers. These were far stronger than the magic barriers of mobile defensive magic arrays, able to withstand even Tier 4 magic attacks.

As for the magical barrier that enveloped the entire city, though not as strong as the gates, it could easily block Tier 3 magic. It could be said to be a perfect guild fortress.

"So many gold coins weren't spent in vain," Shi Feng murmured to himself, surveying his surroundings with a sense of accomplishment.

The city stood proudly on the mountain peak, offering a clear view of everything around it. The scenery below was breathtaking, with a large waterfall nearby, lush mountains and greenery, and various birds and beasts flying about, creating a paradise-like atmosphere.

Aside from the special case of Witch Hill, this place would attract many lifestyle players.

Compared to his previous life, where Shadow Guild didn't even have a guild town at this point, Zero Wing, the guild he had established, already possessed a beginner city. This was something even super guilds couldn't accomplish; only the major powers in the Endless Sea controlled cities.

Unlike the cities controlled in the Endless Sea, he had complete control here, allowing for unrestricted development and construction.

The difference between the two was more than just a level.

As Shi Feng appeared, over a dozen NPC guards on the city walls descended and slowly opened the heavy gates.

"Respected City Lord, the construction of your city is complete. If there are no problems, we can begin the handover," a middle-aged man wearing a pristine white cloak and a luxurious knight's uniform, with a longsword inlaid with several seven曜 (yao) gems hanging at his waist and a cross-shaped scar on his cheek, walked over and said respectfully.

The man appeared unassuming, but he was actually a Tier 3 peak Knight Commander at Level 180. In a small NPC city, he would be qualified to serve as a magistrate. No matter how many ordinary players came, they would be instantly killed by a single move.

"There are no problems. But before that, I would like to visit the city's core magic array," Shi Feng nodded.

Earlier, he had killed a High Great Lord-ranked Fiend under the Beast Emperor and obtained a Evil God Crystal.

This was an invaluable treasure for guilds that owned cities.

Because the Evil God Crystal could serve as the city's energy core. Although its effect was far inferior to the Titan Heart, it was still a very rare energy core, much stronger than the energy core that came with building the city.

"City Lord, please follow me." Knight Commander Yarold immediately led Shi Feng.

Cities were different from towns, occupying a much larger area. Even advanced towns couldn't compare. Even a beginner city could accommodate 300,000 permanent players. And that was just the number of players that could be accommodated with ordinary buildings. If replaced with advanced buildings, that number could double.

An advanced town would feel very crowded if a million players squeezed into it, but a beginner city wouldn't. It could easily accommodate a million players without feeling crowded, with a much higher upper limit than an advanced town.

However, because it was so large, it took time to become familiar with it, and the investment to develop it was even greater. Otherwise, the entire city would feel empty.

Just like now, as Shi Feng walked down the city's main street, although the NPCs had already built many basic buildings for the city, there were still large areas that were empty. Everything needed to be built by the players themselves at their own expense...

According to Shi Feng's estimate, just getting the city's basic buildings completed would drive any first-rate guild crazy, not to mention building arenas and other similar structures.

The number of floors that could be built in a city far exceeded that of a town. The arena in Stone Forest Town was only eight floors high, but a beginner city could build up to sixteen floors, as long as players had the money.

Soon, Shi Feng, led by Knight Commander Yarold, arrived at the third underground level of the City Lord's Mansion.

"City Lord, this is the city's main control room. Here, you can freely control the magic arrays set up throughout the city," Knight Commander Yarold explained slowly, pointing to the magic water sphere suspended in mid-air.

In the center of the huge hall, a giant magic water sphere floated. The entire hall was engraved with many golden divine紋 (shenwen). The water sphere in the center seemed to absorb a huge amount of magic power from the outside to supply the entire city. At the core of this magic array was a bright black crystal.

This black crystal was the common energy core, the magic source crystal, provided by the system. These crystals were all painstakingly created by dozens of high-level magisters, much easier to obtain than those naturally formed or god-created energy cores.

Without saying a word, Shi Feng went to the energy core, directly removed the magic source crystal, and took out the Evil God Crystal from his bag and placed it on the spot.

As the Evil God Crystal was inserted, the magic array in the entire hall began to become violent.

The giant magic water sphere floating in mid-air began to slowly grow larger. In a short while, the magic water sphere grew several times in size, and the volume was constantly increasing. Even the magic density in the room began to soar.

This made Knight Commander Yarold and the others feel uneasy.

However, after the crazy magic power lasted for a few minutes, it returned to calm, and the magic water sphere floating in mid-air left everyone stunned.

Compared to before, the volume of the current magic water sphere was at least two or three times larger, and the magic density in the room was significantly more than twice as high as before.

"As expected, even though it's only the magic array of a beginner city, it can still allow the Evil God Crystal to exert 60% of its effect," Shi Feng said with a slight regret as he glanced at the utilization rate of the Evil God Crystal displayed by the system.

In God's Domain, it wasn't that having a good energy core would allow the city's internal environment to improve without limit. Each city had its own limit. A beginner city could exert 100% of the effect of a magic source crystal, but it could only utilize 60% of the more advanced Evil God Crystal.

To better utilize the power of the Evil God Crystal, one needed to advance to an intermediate city, an advanced city, or even reach the level of a royal city.

However, a 60% utilization rate was enough to increase the city's defense level by nearly one tier, and the magic density in the city by 40%. Although the magic density in the city was still not as good as that of Stone Forest Town, as long as magic towers and magic source towers were built, the magic density would far exceed Stone Forest Town.

"City Lord, you are truly amazing. You were able to obtain such an advanced energy core. Your city will definitely become famous in the Star-Moon Kingdom," Knight Commander Yarold said admiringly.

In the Star-Moon Kingdom, there were only a handful of cities that could obtain such an energy core, and only the royal city surpassed it by a large margin.

Just as Knight Commander Yarold finished speaking, Shi Feng heard a system prompt.

System: System reward triggered. Please name the city, otherwise the reward cannot be obtained. Please name the city within one hour, otherwise the system reward will be invalidated.

System: Player has 59 minutes and 59 seconds remaining.

"Thank you for the Knight Commander's praise. I am very satisfied with this city. Let's complete the handover procedures as soon as possible," Shi Feng said.