The bustling conference room fell silent the moment Shi Feng finished speaking.
Everyone stared at him with mouths agape, while Shi Feng himself looked utterly calm.
As if it were a trivial matter, something that could be done with a casual wave of the hand...
The Beastman Empire occupied an enormous map — perhaps not as large as a true empire, but still more than ten times the size of a normal neutral zone. Up to now, Zero Wing Guild had only been operating around the Ancient Divine Ruins near the eastern outer region of the Beastman Empire, while the entire southeastern territory was more than ten times the area they currently operated in.
If they had no enemies, that would be one thing. But now that Black Water Guild had declared all-out war on them, it meant they had to compete for territory — vying for those scarce high-resource zones, seizing resources to ensure guild members in those areas could level up normally, while also increasing the guild's advantage in those regions. It wasn't simply about grinding levels in those zones.
The thing was, their current operating area already had them stretched thin on manpower.
If the guild lacked sufficient manpower, it would be all too easy for Black Water and the Beast Emperor to exploit the gap and deal them an unimaginably devastating blow.
Black Water Guild not only had vast numbers in the Beastman Empire, but their kill bounties had also attracted a large number of experts eager to target Zero Wing. Only because the dark player problem had been partially resolved could they now free up hands to expand their defensive patrol range and ensure resource acquisition and member progression.
Expanding by more than ten times at once would indeed allow guild members to average out and gain more leveling resources, skyrocketing everyone's levels and wealth. But they simply didn't have the strength or manpower to defend such a vast area.
Without enough players patrolling and monitoring, it would be trivially easy for Black Water and the Beast Emperor to secretly organize large armies, encircle their teams, and annihilate them.
In the Divine Realm, guild teams doing large quests or grinding made considerable noise, especially when monopolizing high-resource zones for leveling. It was easy to be discovered, so advance surveillance of the surrounding area was essential to prevent enemy ambushes and encirclement.
Moreover, even if they could solve the manpower problem by recruiting more guild members from the Star Moon Kingdom, surveillance and patrol tasks still required players of sufficient strength. Otherwise, they'd be found and killed by enemy squads — once or twice might be forgivable, but after ten or eight such incidents, those players would be finished.
Not to mention that organizing effective defense and buying time was crucial. After all, compared to a large group of players trying to flee, a small number had a much easier time escaping. So the players on surveillance and patrol duty needed to provide the main force with time to retreat — without adequate strength, they simply couldn't fill that role.
"Guild Leader, while expanding our territory would let us occupy more high-resource zones and accelerate the guild's growth, with our current strength we simply can't defend such a vast area. It would actually give Black Water Guild the opportunity to eliminate our elite players," Shuise Qiangwei suggested. "My recommendation is to first occupy two or three more high-resource zones. That way, we'd have enough manpower and strength to hold them. Once we've consolidated our power, we can then expand further."
The others nodded in agreement upon hearing Shuise Qiangwei's proposal.
Expanding by more than ten times would indeed dramatically accelerate leveling and wealth accumulation for guild members, but they had to be able to hold those territories. If Black Water and the Beast Emperor kept sending armies to wipe them out, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
"Steady progress is certainly good, but we don't have that kind of time," Shi Feng said, shaking his head. "If we were working with only the current number of guild members in Silver Wing Town, that approach would be ideal. But I'm planning to bring at least one hundred and fifty thousand people over from the Star Moon Kingdom. With that many, the high-resource zones we currently occupy wouldn't be nearly enough to go around."
"One hundred and fifty thousand?" Shuise Qiangwei exclaimed in shock. "Why the sudden need to bring over so many people?"
Silver Wing Town had developed to the point where it had around one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty thousand active members, and that was only because the town had recently been upgraded to a mid-tier town, greatly increasing its player capacity.
Now, more than doubling that number — with Silver Wing Town's current resources, there was no way to help that many guild members level up quickly. Not to mention that with the advent of the Air Harbor, Silver Wing Town's leveling resources would shrink even further.
Everyone else in the conference room drew a sharp breath.
They simply couldn't understand what Shi Feng was thinking. This was absolutely insane.
Increasing the population would indeed boost Silver Wing Town's strength enormously, but the Divine Realm was ultimately a virtual game, and every virtual game had one fatal flaw: the total amount of leveling resources in any given area was finite. The more players there were, the fewer resources each one could get on average.
This approach might make Silver Wing Town temporarily dominant in the Beastman Empire, but over time, the gap in levels and combat power between players would gradually widen. This was precisely why the major super guilds, despite possessing overwhelming strength and numerical superiority, never concentrated everything in one spot.
Even when they truly needed to deal with a particular force, they only sent a small contingent of elites and experts — that way, it wouldn't affect the leveling of guild members in the area while still significantly boosting that region's power.
This was also the reason Black Water Guild had suddenly become so dominant in the Beastman Empire. The existence of Red Flame Fortress allowed Black Water to send massive numbers of players over, and combined with their cooperation with the Beast Emperor — with no threat from evil beasts or demons — they could freely seize various resources throughout the Beastman Empire, further bolstering Red Flame Fortress. Other super guilds or top-tier guilds simply couldn't do the same.
"I imagine you all know about the Secret Stone Fortress that recently appeared inside the Beastman Empire," Shi Feng said slowly.
"Yes. It's the only NPC fortress humans currently have in the Beastman Empire. It has comprehensive facilities and is very close to the Beastman Empire's interior zone — essentially a rest stop between the outer and inner regions. Moreover, it's near Orichalcum Fortress, a major resource hub in the interior. With teleportation, you can reach a point not far from Orichalcum Fortress almost instantly."
"Because of this, many guilds are now eyeing the Secret Stone Fortress, trying to raise its status so their guilds can establish a presence there and lay the groundwork for eventually capturing Orichalcum Fortress."
In response to Shi Feng's sudden question, Shuise Qiangwei provided a detailed rundown of all available intelligence on the Secret Stone Fortress.
It could be said that the Secret Stone Fortress had already become a must-contest prize in the eyes of every major guild. Especially after seeing Black Water Guild reap enormous profits from capturing Red Flame Fortress, every major superpower — now eager for a fortress of their own — wanted to claim one.
"Exactly. I had originally intended to keep this confidential, but there's no need for that anymore," Shi Feng nodded, sweeping his gaze across everyone present. "I've obtained guild residency rights for the Secret Stone Fortress through a quest. I trust you all understand what that means."