The emergence of Stone Forest City instantly sent shockwaves through every player in the Dead Forest.
What had been Stone Forest Town — occupying only a small fraction of the magic barrier — had now transformed into Stone Forest City, claiming nearly half of the barrier's expanse.
Although the city walls after the upgrade were of the most ordinary variety, they still stood over six meters tall, enclosing the entirety of Stone Forest City. Combined with the divine runes inscribed on their surfaces, players had no way of scaling them. Unless they could destroy the walls outright, they had no choice but to enter and exit through the city gates. The defensive capability was simply incomparable to any guild town.
Moreover, the upgraded Stone Forest City didn't merely gain sturdy walls — the buildings inside had undergone dramatic changes as well. Zero Wing's headquarters was especially striking. The guild hall, towering over sixty meters high, was a magnificent spectacle, resembling a great mountain. In the Dead Forest, it could be seen clearly from thousands of yards away.
Aside from Zero Wing's guild hall, the most dramatically enhanced structure was Zero Wing's Auction House.
The Zero Wing Auction House had already been a high-grade building, but after Stone Forest Town ascended to Stone Forest City, the entire high-grade auction house had revealed its true form.
A full twelve-story building stood tall along the main street, its scale even surpassing the auction houses of ordinary NPC cities.
And it wasn't just the auction house — every other building along the streets had been upgraded considerably as well.
"This Stone Forest City is way too grand!" Zi Qiong stared at the towering buildings before her, scarcely able to believe her own eyes.
For ordinary players, guild cities in the Divine Realm were something most had rarely seen. But as a core member of the Heavenly Secrets Palace, she had seen quite a few — she had even investigated some of them personally.
Yet compared to the guild cities she had witnessed before, Stone Forest City was clearly superior by a wide margin. It was practically more magnificent than Zero Wing's own Zero Wing City, hardly looking like a newly established city at all.
Zi Qiong wasn't the only one who was stunned. The accompanying Feng Shui Elder was equally struck dumb.
A guild city's development was supposed to be gradual — this had been thoroughly proven by the data the Heavenly Secrets Palace had gathered. But Stone Forest City was completely defying the rules…
"I don't know what's going on, but with Stone Forest City reaching this level, our chances of holding it have increased significantly." Yuan Tiexin glanced at the towering array of buildings and issued rapid-fire orders. "Notify headquarters immediately. Tell them to get here through the temporary teleportation array as fast as possible. We must complete the defensive arrangements in Stone Forest City before the major superpowers arrive."
In the Divine Realm, the more prosperous a guild city was, the better NPC guards it could recruit. A city's level of construction was a major indicator of its prosperity.
This meant Stone Forest City would have a significant advantage over other new cities when it came to initially recruiting NPC guards. The gap between recruiting Tier 2 NPCs and Tier 1 NPCs was enormous. Moreover, the combat effectiveness of Tier 2 NPC guards within a city was directly influenced by its level of prosperity — the more prosperous the city, the higher their combat capability.
Among the earliest guild cities to upgrade, some of their Tier 2 NPCs possessed combat power on par with experts from the later stages of the fifth floor of the Trial Tower. Combined with the fact that NPCs naturally had superior attributes and significantly higher levels, killing even elite Tier 2 players was as easy as child's play.
Perhaps the current Stone Forest City couldn't match those older cities and bring out Trial Tower fifth-floor-later-stage power from its NPC guards, but achieving fifth-floor-early-stage performance should be no problem — and mid-stage was well within reach.
A horde of Tier 2 NPC guards at that level would constitute a truly terrifying fighting force.
This was precisely why every major superpower was scrambling to act right now.
Stone Forest City had only just ascended, and its defenses in every regard were at their most vulnerable. If they waited until the city had fully matured, the cost of seizing it would be ten or even dozens of times greater.