"Guild Leader, you want to summon them all now — does that mean you're planning to have them join this guild war of attrition too?"
Shuise Qiangwei's only thought upon hearing that Shi Feng wanted to recall the experts from training was this war of attrition. Zero Wing was critically short on experts, and during this period, both their internally trained members and the students sent over by the White Tiger Martial Arts Academy had already reached a considerable level of skill. The best among them had even reached the sixth floor of the Tower of Trials, which would make them absolutely top-notch players even within a super guild.
If they could all be thrown into open-world combat, it would perfectly offset Zero Wing's shortage of experts.
"Right. They need to train and improve their technique regardless, and real combat in the field will accelerate their growth even more," Shi Feng nodded.
"That's true enough, but their levels are way too low right now. The highest is only Level 39, and most haven't even reached Level 35. With such a massive gap in levels and equipment, even good technique won't make them effective fighting force for the guild." Shuise Qiangwei shook her head.
Currently, elite players across all major guilds were generally above Level 45 — a full ten-level gap. Setting aside the difference in growth stats, equipment in the Divine Realm hit a watershed every five levels, and ten levels meant two full tiers apart. This was no longer a gap that mere skill could easily bridge.
"I know. That's exactly why I'm going to take them out to level up," Shi Feng said with a smile.
Previously, the trained members' skill level hadn't been up to par, and he'd been busy with his own affairs, so raising their levels had been put on the back burner.
Now that their combat ability was sufficient, it was time to bring their levels up as well.
After all, Zero Wing's internal membership numbered nearly two hundred, and the White Tiger Martial Arts Academy had another five hundred. While they weren't his own people, all of them were currently under his command — it would be a waste not to put them to use.
That would give them nearly seven hundred experts.
For context, Zero Wing had only accumulated around two thousand players who'd reached the fifth floor of the Tower of Trials to date. Adding seven hundred at once would boost the guild's combat power by a full third.
"Leveling up?" Shuise Qiangwei's eyes lit up. She knew full well how Shi Feng operated — his leveling speed was absurd, two to three times faster than even top-tier experts. It wouldn't take long to bolster the guild with seven hundred experts, and defending four high-resource maps would become much easier. But then a second thought crossed her mind, and she shook her head again. "Guild Leader, it'll be hard to level up right now. We've been under constant covert surveillance by the Heavenly Burial Guild. If we head out into the field to grind, we'll definitely get ambushed. Before our levels go up, they'll grind us back down first."
"Don't worry. If they can make it there, that is," Shi Feng smiled.
He'd said he was taking everyone out to level up, but leveling was really just a bonus. His true objective was the mana ore.
The Bone-Devouring Land was not only a map rich in mana ore but also an excellent place to grind. It was populated by numerous demonic creatures with low defense and thin HP pools, and they respawned quickly. The only catch was their high magic resistance and the decent combat skill required to fight them, which was troublesome for magic-class players — but for him, it was no obstacle.
With the Book of Darkness in hand, he would be like a fish in water there.
Shuise Qiangwei then notified all of Zero Wing's internally trained members and the White Tiger Martial Arts Academy students to assemble, while Shi Feng first made a trip to the Candlefire Trading Company to pick up a pile of iron pickaxes before heading to the base to gather.
Shi Feng's arrival immediately caused a stir among the assembled crowd. They hadn't expected that the guild leader, Black Flame, would personally lead them out to level up. Everyone was thrilled.
After all, the name of the Sword King was known to anyone who'd spent any time in the Divine Realm, and his battle records were documented on the Master Rankings leaderboard. Those fights had already become textbook material for countless Swordsmen, analyzed by innumerable players.
Shi Feng didn't bother with a lengthy speech. He simply led the group through the Teleportation Hall straight to a frontier town in the Star Moon Kingdom, then found a secluded spot, activated the Spatial Gate, and transported them across maps.