In the luxurious VIP reception room, a somewhat worn piece of parchment looked conspicuously out of place. But once Shi Feng produced the parchment, the NPC senior steward grew far more respectful, carefully unfolding it on the table for inspection.
The value of a Town Construction Order was far below that of a City Construction Order from the Star Moon Kingdom.
However, in terms of the significance it represented, the Town Construction Order far surpassed the Star Moon Kingdom's City Construction Order.
That was because a Town Construction Order allowed one to build a town without restriction—even in neutral zones. Neutral zones fell outside the jurisdiction of any kingdom or empire; it was essentially like declaring yourself king elsewhere.
The Star Moon Kingdom's City Construction Order, while highly valuable, still fell under the Kingdom's governance. That meant you were still a subject of the Star Moon Kingdom, heavily influenced by it.
The simplest example was that within the Star Moon Kingdom, every town had to pay enormous management fees each month. At Zero Wing City's current city level, the monthly fee was already thirty thousand gold coins, and if it were upgraded to a mid-tier or high-tier city, the price would multiply several times over.
But in a neutral zone, you didn't have to pay any management fees to the Star Moon Kingdom—you only needed to pay a modest fee to the system.
Despite this advantage, there was one major drawback: a lack of safety. Within a kingdom's or empire's borders, you had their protection at your back—at worst, you'd face wild monster sieges. But in neutral zones, it wasn't only wild monsters; other races would frequently launch attacks as well.
Guilds that weren't powerful enough, even if they obtained a Town Construction Order, would find their towns destroyed due to insufficient strength. Such scenarios were hardly rare in the Divine Realm.
However, this drawback brought along another benefit—one of the greatest advantages of establishing a town in a neutral zone: you weren't subject to the control of kingdoms or empires, and could trade with other races.
The Divine Realm was home to numerous races. Beyond those that only knew slaughter and possessed very low intelligence, some races were capable of communication—dwarves, elves, Beast Tooth Clan, half-elves, half-orcs, and so on. However, within guild towns inside kingdoms and empires, such trade was absolutely forbidden. You'd never see any other races; at most, you might spot them in NPC towns conducting extremely basic transactions or exchanges.
But many of the other races' goods were actually superior to those produced by the human race—especially their unique items, which could greatly enhance a player's survival and combat capabilities in the wild.
Take dwarven weapons and equipment, for example. Thanks to the dwarves' advanced craftsmanship and their specialized forging techniques, their gear excelled in both sharpness and durability.
Towns in neutral zones had no such restrictions. As long as the town was attractive enough, it could easily draw merchants and members of other races. Not only could you trade with them, but you could even hire them as town guards.
These foreign warriors, compared to human warriors, could surpass them significantly in certain aspects. Guilds that established towns in neutral zones would invariably hire formidable fighters from other races as guards.
Thus, on the surface, a Town Construction Order merely allowed you to build a small town in a neutral zone. In reality, it was tantamount to founding a micro-kingdom. Though it fell far short of an actual kingdom or empire in every respect, it was fundamentally on the same tier.
There were countless guilds in the Divine Realm, but how strong a guild was largely depended on the towns it held in neutral maps. After all, in the Divine Realm, the neutral maps dwarfed all the kingdoms and empires combined.
"Guardian, your Town Construction Order has been verified without issue. May I ask where you'd like to build the town?" The NPC senior steward put away the Town Construction Order, took out a crystal orb, and placed it on the table. The orb immediately displayed a map of the Divine Realm. His tone was thoroughly respectful.
"Right here." Shi Feng directly pinpointed the location of the ancient divine ruins within the Beastman Empire.
Building a town in a neutral zone was nothing like doing so within a kingdom or empire.
Kingdoms and empires never intervened in matters beyond their borders. Since neutral zones didn't belong to any kingdom or empire, they left the matter of town construction alone—it was the Adventurer's Association that handled it.
"Guardian, that area is extremely dangerous right now. The surrounding monsters are all level 50 or above, and Beastmen roam freely. Building a town there would be very expensive—the base cost alone is forty thousand gold coins. As for hiring guardians, first-tier adventurers at level 100 cost three gold coins per person per day, second-tier adventurers cost ten gold coins per person per day, and third-tier adventurers cost one hundred gold coins per person per day, for a maximum hire period of three days."
"How many would you like to hire?"
"One thousand first-tier adventurers, five hundred second-tier adventurers, and twenty third-tier adventurers—all hired for three days."