The Sea Forest was situated within a secret realm created by the Elven King, completely enveloped by an ocean of trees. Unlike Dark Night City, where towering skyscrapers stood everywhere, the Sea Forest was filled with colossal ancient trees that soared skyward like mountain peaks. Houses were built among the branches, and the trees were connected by thick, intertwining vines.
In essence, the entire Sea Forest was a city built upon trees.
Shi Feng rode his mount along a wide vine bridge, and the view below was an endless sea of clouds, as if he had stepped into a celestial paradise.
The Sea Forest had not yet fully opened. The streets were filled with NPCs, along with a handful of early-arriving members from the three major guilds who had already begun exploring. No other players were present.
As a city blessed by six Elven Kings, the Sea Forest had an incredibly long history. Most of the NPCs living here were Elves, supplemented by merchants of many other races. Humans made up only a small fraction.
The weakest guards patrolling the streets were all Level 180, and they were Second Order guards clad in finely crafted equipment. Patrol captains were Level 200 Third Order knights. But none of that was what truly mattered.
What was truly formidable was the ancient equipment worn by these guards. It came with advanced battle formations built in, allowing even Second Order guards working together to hold their own against Fourth Order players. The patrol captains' equipment bore master-grade battle formations — even Fifth Order players would find it nearly impossible to stir up trouble on these streets.
Rumor had it that the Sea Forest also housed Immortal Guardians left behind by the Elven Kings. Though not gods themselves, their combat power was said to rival that of deities.
Any Sixth Order player who entered the Sea Forest would be forcibly suppressed to the Fifth Order by the secret realm the six Elven Kings had created. As a result, the Sea Forest's safety level exceeded even Blackwing City, which perched atop a mountain peak. Throughout the history of the Divine Realm, plenty of Fifth and Sixth Order players had relied on their strength to cause disturbances in various cities, but none dared to raise a hand in the Sea Forest.
Because of this, the Sea Forest had become the Divine Realm's most renowned NPC city, attracting massive numbers of players and neutral-race inhabitants alike, all without ever having to worry about their safety within its borders.
After spending nearly twenty minutes riding his mount, Shi Feng arrived at the largest ancient tree in the entire Sea Forest — the very tree that housed the City Hall, the heart and center of the entire city.
"So there are already this many other-race merchants?" Shi Feng arrived at the bustling central avenue, where merchants of various races hawked their wares on every corner. The prosperity on display was in no way inferior to that of Dark Night City.
The goods sold by these other-race merchants were all rare items — magic scrolls, potions, materials, ancient books, engineering devices, weapons and armor — the selection was dazzling. The members of the three major guilds who had arrived earlier were practically salivating.
Simply buying some of these items and reselling them outside would earn a handsome profit. Magic scrolls, weapons and armor, rare materials — even Second Order magic scrolls were available for purchase here. As for weapons and armor, the selection was even more impressive; even Level 50 Dark Gold equipment could be found, though the prices were steeper than what players charged, putting them out of reach for most. Meanwhile, non-storable materials, which were exceedingly rare on the player market, were scattered everywhere.
But the three major guilds' members were not foolish. Not a single item from the street stalls had been purchased. The first thing they did was conduct surveys — mapping out the layout of the central avenue, identifying vacant lots and shop spaces, then compiling all the information for the guild members inside City Hall to review and select from.
When Shi Feng arrived at City Hall, merchant players from all three major guilds were already studying which plots and shops to purchase. Compared to the guilds' senior managers, these merchants were far more professional in commerce, and with the Merchant as their sub-class, they could negotiate with the NPCs and extract additional information.
However, deciding which plots and shops to buy was no less headache-inducing.
The prices for land and storefronts in the Sea Forest were truly exorbitant…
Even a ordinary plot in the outer district cost anywhere from seven thousand to fifteen thousand gold. Plots in the inner district closer to the center started at twelve thousand gold, with some reaching as high as thirty thousand. The central district started at fifty thousand gold, and prime locations began at a staggering one hundred thousand gold.
Such prices made even the current superpowers hesitate to buy. But that was not even the most important factor — to purchase plots and storefronts in the central district, one needed sufficient standing and reputation within the Sea Forest. This standing was not simply a matter of being a city noble; one also needed to have contributed enough.
For now, only the outer and inner districts were available for purchase, but the sheer number of options made random purchases impossible without first understanding the landscape.