Silver Wing Town, Air Port.
A corner of the map that nobody had bothered to visit before had, thanks to the Air Port's establishment, long since become a gathering place for players and NPCs alike. Outside the Air Port, players peddling wares and forming parties could be seen everywhere — the bustling scene was no less impressive than White River City.
"So this is Silver Wing Town? These players are seriously high-level! Feels like the average level here could rival Black Dragon City."
"Of course you wouldn't know. Getting from Star Moon Kingdom's capital to Silver Wing Town is super easy, and the transport quests here pay really well. Lots of top players have been coming to Silver Wing Town to develop. I heard you can even pick up Mythril-rank weapons and equipment at bargain prices from the Trade House sometimes."
……
Players who had just stepped out of the Air Port were stunned by Silver Wing Town's prosperity. Every player roaming the streets was level fifty-three or above, with most sitting at fifty-four and fifty-five. Second-order powerhouses could even be spotted here and there. Most importantly, there were plenty of players buying and selling equipment and items.
Mythril-rank gear for level fifty, which was rarely put up for sale in Black Dragon City, was being traded openly on the streets — and not by just one or two vendors. The prices were over twenty percent cheaper than in Black Dragon City, though for individual players like them, it was still out of reach.
After getting a general feel for Silver Wing Town, the newly arrived players' eyes lit up.
Developing in Silver Wing Town was leagues better than grinding in Black Dragon City. Not only were there more ways to make money, but obtaining level-fifty weapons and equipment was far easier too. The Trade House even offered exchanges for level-fifty Gold-grade weapons and equipment — though accumulating enough transport quest points was no simple task.
" The Air Port's effect is incredible," Shi Feng murmured, eyeing the somewhat congested streets. He hadn't expected things to become this prosperous in such a short time. "No wonder having an Air Port can promote a main city into a high-tier main city. This growth rate is astonishing."
He had already asked Shuisè Qiangwei to further loosen Silver Wing Town's population cap, but he figured it would hit full capacity again before long.
To resolve the player population issue, Silver Wing Town needed to be promoted to a high-tier town as quickly as possible.
A high-tier town was still technically a town, but its area was vastly larger than a mid-tier town's — nearly half the size of a minor city. The only difference was that a minor city had complete defensive facilities and functions that a town lacked.
However, promoting Silver Wing Town to a high-tier town was no easy feat.
For a town on a neutral map, the promotion prerequisites included not only sufficient fame but, more crucially, an adequate safety rating. Without meeting that threshold, no amount of fame would make promotion possible.
Unlike the previous promotion to mid-tier — where Silver Wing Town had merely lacked fame — the current situation was the reverse. Thanks to the Air Port and the Trade House drawing in players, the town was racking up fame points every day and would reach the high-tier threshold in no time. The safety rating, though, was a different story.
In terms of pure defensive structures, five Magic Towers and a large number of turrets were more than adequate. Adding more turrets would yield only marginal improvements to the safety rating.
Town safety was divided into two components: structures and NPC guards.
Improving NPC guards' effectiveness was itself split into two parts — the guards' own strength and their equipment. As for the guards' personal power, there was nothing Shi Feng could do about that; it depended entirely on which NPCs were randomly recruited. All he could do was upgrade their equipment, but that required a tremendous amount of gold…
To meet the safety requirements for a high-tier town promotion, six hundred out of the two thousand NPC guards needed Gold-grade equipment. Currently, only a hundred and twenty wore Gold-grade gear, leaving a shortfall of nearly four hundred and eighty — which meant roughly two hundred and ninety thousand gold coins were needed to bridge the gap…
For other guilds, the hardest part of upgrading a town on a neutral map was usually the fame requirement. By the time they had enough fame, the safety rating had long since exceeded the threshold. Silver Wing Town was exactly the opposite.
And that was precisely what gave Shi Feng a headache.