Chapter 2441 – Zero Wing’s Tyranny

Stone Forest City’s public opening had shaken the Cold Spring Forest. Many expert players and teams within the area had dropped what they were doing and ran toward the city. As a result, a long line had formed outside of the city’s entrance. At a glance, one could easily spot over 10,000 players lined up, and the line continued to grow as time passed.

Many of the players in line were here to witness the rumored ‘sacred leveling ground’ in Cold Spring Forest, while a small number were waiting to verify if Stone Forest City had truly opened to the public.

Although the system would not lie, nobody was certain that Zero Wing wouldn’t just close its city again. After all, Stone Forest City offered a massive number of benefits.

A struggle ensued between the various major powers and wealthy players every time Zero Wing held a leasing auction for the city’s private houses, and as a result, every house was rented for astronomical sums.

If Zero Wing had really opened Stone Forest City to the public, players wouldn’t have to rely on renting private houses to enter the city. As long as they paid the entrance fee, they could rest within the city’s walls, which would drastically reduce the value of Stone Forest City’s private houses.

The powers Zero Wing had allied with also paid a certain price to access Stone Forest City, and now that the city was open to the public, those powers wouldn’t have to continue paying the Guild.

Most importantly, by opening Stone Forest City to the public, Zero Wing would be sharing its leveling advantage with outsiders, greatly reducing the advantage the Guild held. Hence, closing the city again wouldn’t exactly be possible for Zero Wing.

“Zero Wing’s gone mad with greed! It’s charging 10 Silver per person to enter the city! That’s practically daylight robbery!” a Tier 3 female Cursemancer radiating a dark aura complained, frowning. She wanted nothing more than to slay the Tier 2 NPC Knight that collected the entrance fees.

Ordinary Guild Cities only charged several dozen Copper as entrance fees. Even the Guild Cities that had been established near Level 100 neutral maps only charged 2 Silver per person.

Yet, Stone Forest City charged five times that!

Although current players had already reached very high levels and found more avenues to earn money, they also had to bear more expenditures.

When players fought Level 100-plus monsters, in particular, their equipment lost durability at an alarming rate, even if they were fully geared in top-tier equipment. As a result, the repair fees were excruciating. Furthermore, players had to purchase potions and tools for grinding. Once these costs were deducted, players could only save a small number of Coins each day.

Currently, even Level 100, Tier 2 experts only made a net profit of 40 or 50 Silver per day, and that was limited to ranged experts. Melee experts would be lucky to earn 30 Silver each day in net profit. Unless players were extremely lucky and obtained a precious item or material, they wouldn’t make much money.

Although players could grind low-level monsters for materials and earn more money, doing so was putting the cart before the horse. If the various major powers’ experts removed themselves from the frontline, they’d quickly be left behind. Catching up would be incredibly difficult, and they might even miss some fortuitous opportunity as a result.

Hence, no matter how poor frontline players were, they wouldn’t walk away from the frontline just to earn a little money.

At the moment, players were only entering the city, not renting hotel rooms, yet they had to pay 10 Silver per person.

If the city charged each player so much to enter the city, it would earn 100,000 Gold for every 1,000,000 players.

One hundred thousand Gold!

At this stage of the game, not even first-rate Guilds could earn that much money in a day. Of course, Zero Wing would only earn that much if 1,000,000 players visited the city on a daily basis, but with the advantages Stone Forest City had to offer, attracting two or three million daily visitors should be a piece of cake. In other words, Stone Forest City could generate two or three hundred thousand Gold per day in entry fees alone…

Moreover, as more players visited Cold Spring Forest, this number would increase.

“Flower! Now isn’t the time to take action! Entering the city is our first priority!” Stubborn Heart reminded the female Cursemancer from beside her. “Once the superpowers, combined army arrives, you can fuss all you want.”

The Cursemancer, Flower Rain, exasperated Stubborn Heart.

Flower Rain had already reached Tier 3, and 10 Silver was insignificant to an expert of her caliber. She could join any random team and earn several dozen Gold, yet she complained about 10 Silver Coins.

If not for this operation, Stubborn Heart wouldn’t have recruited an independent expert like Flower Rain.

However, he had to admit that Stone Forest City was tyrannical. Just by existing here, the city could earn enough income to sustain several first-rate Guilds.

“Relax; I’m aware of our priorities. That being said, I want 50% more in remuneration,” Flower Rain demanded. Despite the fact that Stubborn Heart was the Guild Leader of the Black Dragon Empire’s number one Dark Guild, she showed him no respect. On the contrary, she demanded a higher price.

In response, several of Grim Reaper’s Tier 3 experts gave Flower Rain cold glares.

“Fine. As long as you can maintain your Domain as agreed, I’ll increase your pay,” Stubborn Heart said, assenting. Interestingly, he didn’t seem angry in the least.

None of the other major powers’ experts were surprised, however.

Flower Rain was the only player in the Black Dragon Empire to possess a Tier 3 Domain Skill. She was also a bona fide Void Realm expert, and when she activated her Domain Skill, even the empire’s first-rate Guilds were helpless against her.

This was precisely the reason that Stubborn Heart had enlisted Flower Rain’s help.

Although every member of his team was a Tier 3 expert, Stone Forest City was full of Level 115-plus, Tier 2 NPC Knights, which would be a challenge to get through. Hence, they needed Flower Rain’s help. With a Tier 3 Domain Skill to suppress the Knights, defeating the NPCs wouldn’t be a problem. Even if a large number of Zero Wing’s Tier 3 experts joined the fray, they could complete their task and capture the City Lord’s Mansion.

Once Stubborn Heart agreed to her price, Flower Rain stopped wasting time and gave the Tier 2 Knight her 10 Silver.

As Flower Rain entered the city, a Tier 3 Berserker beside Stubborn Heart spoke up, “Boss, that’s 50%! If you give her that much, we’ll have significantly less profit!”

“It’s fine. As long as Nine Dragons Emperor’s negotiations with Starlink are successful, and we’re the first group to capture the City Lord’s Mansion, we can negotiate for more. With Stone Forest City under our control, Nine Dragons Emperor and Starlink won’t be able to refuse our demands,” Stubborn Heart said, grinning as he looked at the long line of players behind him.

He had known for a long time that Stone Forest City was a goldmine, but after seeing it for himself, he realized how limited his imagination had been.

How was this a goldmine? This was basically a diamond mine!

The city could collect over 300,000 Gold in entrance fees alone. Once the various superpowers took over, even a small share would greatly benefit Grim Reaper.

The other powers’ Tier 3 experts couldn’t help but think the same as they gazed at Stone Forest City with hungry eyes. At the same time, they felt their hatred for Zero Wing grow.

Normally, their Guilds had to go to great lengths to earn a few thousand Gold more than usual, but despite its lack of backers and a short history of less than a year, Zero Wing earned more income than their Guilds could dream of. Moreover, Zero Wing earned so much without having to lift a finger.

“Alright, let’s head inside,” Stubborn Heart commanded as the players behind him urged their team to move.

Stubborn Heart and his team then paid their entrance fees and entered Stone Forest City.

However, as they crossed the threshold into the city, they found Flower Rain standing stiff as a statue in the middle of the road.

“Flower, what’s wrong?” Stubborn Heart asked.

When he made it to her side, however, he, too, was stunned. His expression shifted to one of horror when he saw the two rows of NPC Knights before him.

“Tier 3?! This… How is this possible?”

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