Icebound City, Central Avenue.
After organizing the Shura Adventure Team to escape Black Khatiri's pursuit, Shi Feng quickly had everyone don black cloaks and enter Icebound City in batches to gather intelligence about the city.
Shi Feng himself headed straight for the City Hall with Yan Ya.
"Team Leader, Icebound City is so bustling — it could rival the royal capitals of the Divine Realm continent." Yan Ya sat in a high-class carriage, gazing out the window at the streets with wide-eyed astonishment.
Along the way, the cries of hawkers lined both sides of the avenue. Unlike Cold Wind City, most of these peddling players were life profession players, selling all manner of Level 50 weapons and equipment. The worst pieces were Bronze Equipment, and the best were even Mythril Rank — something you'd never find in Cold Wind City. Shops lined every block, and the commercial prosperity was no less impressive than a kingdom's royal capital.
Moreover, compared to the player levels and equipment in Cold Wind City, the players here were noticeably stronger. The mainstream players on the streets were almost all Level 52 or above, clad head to toe in Level 50 Iron Rank equipment. Expert players at Level 53 were far from rare — several of them wore pieces of Mythril Rank equipment, and some independent players even sported Level 50 Gold-grade gear...
"It really is prosperous. Just the level of the free life profession players here far exceeds that of a royal capital." Shi Feng studied the life profession players on the streets and noticed that none of them wore guild emblems. They weren't guild members, yet they could craft Level 50 Mythril Rank equipment. This standard was leagues ahead of the life profession players on the Divine Realm continent — at least in the Star Moon Kingdom, the only faction capable of producing Level 50 Mythril equipment was the Candlelight Trading Company. "It seems Icebound City must be one of the Ice Crystal World's main cities."
"Main city?" It was Yan Ya's first time hearing the term.
"That's right, a main city. The entire alternate world can be thought of as a kingdom or empire, and while it hasn't been unified, there are cities analogous to royal capitals and imperial cities — those are the main cities. They serve as the central hub where surrounding regions converge. The difference is that the alternate world has more than one main city. Depending on its size, there are between three and seven. A city as large as Icebound City is almost certainly a main city." Shi Feng explained.
Based on his prior research, Icebound City's player population far exceeded Cold Wind City's, reaching eight million. No ordinary city could support a player base of that size — it even surpassed the current population of White River City. Add to that the fact that Icebound City had recently connected to two other cities and maintained routes to several surrounding regions, and the evidence was conclusive: Icebound City was one of the Ice Crystal World's main cities.
Shi Feng had originally expected to arrive in something like Cold Wind City — an ordinary city. He hadn't anticipated landing in a main city, and this was a delightful surprise.
Main cities in the alternate world were far more important than the royal capitals and imperial cities of the Divine Realm continent. In the alternate world, nearly half the time you needed to pass through a main city to travel to another city. It wasn't like kingdoms and empires, where you could simply teleport directly.
Furthermore, connecting to other major regions — that is, linking to other main cities — was only possible from within a main city's region. Ordinary cities in the same region couldn't establish connections to other major regions.
For these reasons, main cities in the alternate world were critically important, and far harder to control than ordinary cities. But whoever managed to claim one would gain access to a significant portion of the alternate world's resources — a must-contest stronghold for any major guild.
Being able to reach Icebound City before the major guilds of the Black Dragon Empire was an enormous head start.
After a carriage ride of over twenty minutes, Shi Feng and Yan Ya finally arrived at Icebound City's City Hall.
A number of merchant players were inside, browsing and purchasing shop spaces. Other players waiting in the lounge area chatted and laughed.
"Did you hear? Black Khatiri tried to ambush an adventure team in the Glacial Rift, and not only did they lose several thousand elite fighters, the adventure team managed to escape with nearly half its members."
"Of course I heard. I also heard the adventure team is called Shura — apparently they came from Cold Wind City, the one Black Khatiri was trying to seize."
"That Shura Adventure Team is something else, making Black Khatiri stumble like that. Who exactly are they?"
"I also heard the team leader is some kind of monster — over three meters tall, arms thicker than our thighs several times over. He single-handedly wiped out an entire Vulture squad, and killed thousands of Black Khatiri elites on his own. Slaughtering Tier 2 experts was like killing dogs for him."
"Sounds like a real monster. No wonder the Vulture squad got wiped out."
Nothing stays hidden under the sun. Black Khatiri's forty-thousand-strong army ambushing a single adventure team had already been massive news. Losing several thousand troops made the secret impossible to conceal — it quickly became the talk of every corner in Icebound City.
"Team Leader, they seem to be talking about you." Yan Ya, walking past, couldn't help but laugh and glance slyly at Shi Feng.
"Do I really look that terrifying?" Shi Feng was speechless at the players' discussion. The stories were growing more outlandish with each retelling.
This time, Black Khatiri's operation had indeed dealt serious damage to the Shura Adventure Team, but it had also brought a significant windfall — everyone was talking about the incident, which meant the Shura Adventure Team's reputation in Icebound City had skyrocketed for free.
Afterward, Shi Feng made his way to the second-floor hall and presented his City Guardian title.
"Honored Guardian, how may I assist you?" A senior NPC steward approached.
"I'd like to purchase a plot of land in the city," Shi Feng said directly.
"Certainly. Here are the currently vacant plots available." The senior NPC steward promptly produced a map of Icebound City. Plots marked in green had not yet been purchased; those marked in red had already been bought.
Looking at the map, a slight smile crept onto Shi Feng's face.
"Just as I thought — nobody's touched the plots on that street yet." He could see that an old quarter of streets in the city's outer district was marked almost entirely in green, completely untouched.
Since the Divine Realm launched, whether it was NPC cities on the Divine Realm continent or NPC cities in the alternate world, the prime urban plots had long since been snapped up by major guilds. Nothing worthwhile was left.
But there was one difference in the alternate world's NPC cities — the old quarter streets of a main city.
In the alternate world, only a main city's region could connect to other main cities' regions. It was the same as the Divine Realm continent — you had to pass through a royal capital to teleport between kingdoms; ordinary cities in a kingdom wouldn't work.
And in the alternate world's main cities, "connecting to another main city's region" didn't mean opening a land route on the map. It meant activating a shipping lane between cities — a skyship flying from one main city to another. The skyship terminal was located in the main city's old quarter. Once the route was established, an airship port would be built in the old quarter, and that port would be the bridge connecting two major regions' players.
In his previous life, none of the major guilds in the alternate world knew about this. Instead, some merchant players bought up the land and made a fortune.
Right now, the street plots near the old quarter's airship port were almost entirely vacant. This was a massive business opportunity.
"Honored Guardian, which plot would you like to select? I can provide you with a detailed overview." The senior NPC steward, seeing Shi Feng standing there motionless for some time, spoke up.
"No need for introductions. I'll take every plot in this area." Shi Feng pointed to several streets in the old quarter.