System: Congratulations to the player on completing the epic trade route quest "Beast King's Ambition." Rewards: Star Moon Kingdom reputation +100, current experience +50%, and a Star Moon Kingdom Port Construction Permit.
Orc Empire Regional System Announcement: Congratulations to Silverwing Town of the Zero Wing Guild for becoming the first settlement in the Orc Empire to establish a trade route. Rewards: Silverwing Town popularity +10,000 points, and a Transport Trade House Blueprint.
……
The system announcement echoed three times in the ears of every player inside the Orc Empire.
"Establish a trade route? What does that mean?"
"It probably means more NPC merchants can be brought in."
"If that's the case, doesn't it mean Silverwing Town will be able to buy more rare items from the NPCs from now on?"
"Zero Wing Guild really is incredible. Silverwing Town only just upgraded to a mid-tier settlement not long ago, and now they've opened a trade route too. In the future, the Orc Empire is definitely going to be Zero Wing's territory."
"Obviously. Even the evil army couldn't do anything against Zero Wing back then. Now Silverwing Town is developing better and better — I'd wager it won't be long before they even surpass Ancient Rock City, which is occupied by the forces of darkness."
"If they can surpass it, we'll be in luck. At least we won't have to worry about getting ambushed by those dark players when we're grinding in the outer regions of the Orc Empire."
……
Players leveling up in the Orc Empire flooded the official forums with discussion, speaking very highly of the Zero Wing Guild's development and looking forward to seeing Silverwing Town grow.
Right now, Ancient Rock City inside the Orc Empire had, for some unknown reason, become a gathering place for the forces of darkness. Massive numbers of dark players had congregated there, and it had essentially become a dark-player stronghold.
Because Ancient Rock City sat near the border between the outer and inner regions of the Orc Empire, the dark players' main area of activity straddled that boundary.
As a result, the free-roaming players who came to level up and run quests were having a miserable time. They had no shortage of run-ins and PvP clashes with those dark players.
And although Silverwing Town, the closest settlement to Ancient Rock City, also served as a gathering point for these players, the town could only accommodate so many. Far too few players had congregated there for it to put up any real resistance against the dark players in Ancient Rock City.
But if Silverwing Town developed and more players flocked to it, it could, to a certain degree, suppress the dark players' influence. That would make the dark players more cautious in their movements — at the very least, they wouldn't dare hunt free players out in the outer regions so brazenly.
The news of Silverwing Town's trade route opening delighted the vast number of free players in the Orc Empire, but the major powers who received the same news wore somber expressions.
The surrounding kingdoms and empires had already seen their Orc Empire–bound player population reach near-saturation. In other words, the total number of players leveling up in the Orc Empire was essentially fixed. Every major power that had seized a settlement wanted to attract as many players as possible — only then could the town grow and thrive.
If a flood of players all headed for Silverwing Town, what would become of their own settlements' development?