The sheer density of mana in Stone Forest City left not only the various guild representatives present stunned, but even Shui Se Qiangwei, Bai Qingxue, and the other core members of Zero Wing's main raid team were caught completely off guard.
A high-concentration mana environment was nothing new to them — in fact, it was something they were quite accustomed to.
Yet Stone Forest City's mana density was even higher than Titan Holy City's, and these mana currents felt entirely different from anything they had experienced before. They carried an aura of wild turbulence, but rather than plunging them into restlessness, that wild energy instead brought an inexplicable sense of warmth, filling them with an indescribable sense of harmony with their surroundings.
This sense of harmony seemed to grant them an entirely new understanding of the world around them — a feeling none of them had ever experienced before, as if they had stepped into an entirely different world.
Under normal circumstances, this should have been impossible to achieve simply through high mana density. They had all witnessed mana atomization before, and it had never produced anything remotely like this.
But the truth was, this phenomenon had nothing to do with mana at all — it was entirely due to a special hidden effect granted by the Tower of Darkness.
And while this environmental harmony was completely alien to Shui Se Qiangwei, Bai Qingxue, and the others, it was achingly familiar to both Yan Yun Shiliu Meng and Chi You who stood among the crowd — so familiar, in fact, that a trace of fear crept into their hearts.
Because this sense of harmony with one's surroundings bore a striking resemblance to the sensation of reaching the Void State. Though far less intense, it carried roughly a tenth of that state's power.
Among the great superpowers, anyone capable of reaching this level of attainment was invariably a senior leader — a pillar of their guild, a figure who shone like a first-rate star.
And here, within Stone Forest City, players were being granted this very feeling. Even at only a tenth of its true potency, the benefit to expert players was enormous. For Precision-stage masters in particular, the assistance was considerable — it could help them better sense and seek out this state themselves.
As long as they grasped that feeling and learned to maintain it continuously, their chances of reaching the Void State would increase by a good twenty to thirty percent.
A twenty to thirty percent boost might sound dismissible to experts of the major guilds, but for Precision-stage masters within a superpower, even that much improvement in their odds was worth bankrupting themselves for — Stone Forest City would become a holy ground they would do anything to visit.
"No wonder so many superpowers fought over Stone Forest City. I never imagined it offered benefits like this," Yan Yun Shiliu Meng murmured, sensing the mana around them, as everything suddenly clicked into place.
For Precision-stage masters, reaching the Flow State was relatively straightforward — it only required carefully observing an enemy's every movement and making accurate predictions. In general, anyone who accumulated enough experience could reach it. It was simply a matter of time and diligent effort.
But advancing from the Flow State to the Void State was an entirely different matter — a qualitative leap. It was like going from keeping your eyes on a single target to simultaneously tracking over a hundred targets at once. This was no longer something that could be achieved through observation alone; it demanded an entirely different perspective.
Within the major superpowers, Precision-stage and Flow State experts were plentiful, but those who had reached the Void State were extraordinarily rare. Even with a superpower's vast resources, the chances of a Flow State expert breaking through to the Void State were less than ten percent.
But with an environment like Stone Forest City's, the guild could definitely produce several more top-tier experts in relatively short order.
A top-tier expert was someone who could command and hold territory — someone of immense strategic value. A few more of them would allow a guild to manage and expand its sphere of influence more effectively. They were also the primary force for acquiring powerful treasures, since monster-class experts within the great superpowers could be counted on one hand, and the Divine Realm held so many precious artifacts and dangerous zones that only top-tier experts could handle them.
"Yan Yun, we must secure this temporary base in Stone Forest City — no matter what it costs!" Chi You declared, his voice ringing with absolute conviction.
"I understand. Leave it to me," Yan Yun Shiliu Meng nodded, the lazy languor in her eyes completely gone. The slight dismissiveness she had once felt toward Stone Forest City had evaporated entirely.
Their Tiger's Pride guild was different from those first-rate and superpowers guilds. Being newly established, most of their experts had been poached — but top-tier experts were the absolute core of any guild, and luring them away was nearly impossible. As a result, Tiger's Pride had plenty of Precision-stage and Flow State experts, yet remained severely lacking when it came to top-tier powerhouses. They had no choice but to cultivate their own.
But the difficulty of doing so was staggering. Even after pouring enormous resources into the effort, Tiger's Pride had managed to produce only two top-tier experts in total. When the next one would emerge was anyone's guess.
If they could have access to an environment like Stone Forest City's, it probably wouldn't be long before the guild added several more top-tier experts to its ranks, allowing Tiger's Pride to expand its territory once more.
At that moment, it wasn't just Yan Yun Shiliu Meng and the others who felt their hearts burning with desire — Bu Mie Zhan Xin, standing off to the side, was equally ablaze with longing for Stone Forest City's temporary base.
Compared to Star Ring, his Unfalling War Spirit guild wasn't far behind in terms of sheer numbers of expert players. The real gap lay in the count of top-tier experts and above. If they could close that disparity, Unfalling War Spirit could very well stand toe-to-toe with Star Ring in a prolonged struggle.
Moreover, Stone Forest City sat deep within the Bottomless Abyss. Possessing such a tremendous advantage, a protracted war of attrition against Star Ring was no longer unthinkable.
Before long, the group arrived at Stone Forest City's Candlelight Trading Company amid their gasps of amazement and envy.
Though the Candlelight Trading Company in Stone Forest City couldn't compare to the one in Zero Wing City, it was still a full ten stories tall — resembling a massive stadium capable of easily accommodating tens of thousands of people inside. The one in White River City was simply no match. However, it wasn't yet fully open to the public and was still in the process of preparation, as the Candlelight Trading Company had only risen in rank alongside Stone Forest City, and countless matters needed to be reorganized and arranged.
Once the group entered the Candlelight Trading Company and laid eyes on the items displayed at the various counters on the first-floor lobby, every last one of them was struck dumb with shock.
"Level 60 to 80 Dark Gold eight-piece sets! How is that even possible?!" Chi You shouted, staring at the equipment arranged before the item counter, unable to contain himself.
It wasn't just Chi You who found it unbelievable — every guild representative present sat wide-eyed and slack-jawed, unable to form a single sentence for a long while.
They all hailed from various guilds, whether small or large, or even superpowers. Right now, the best equipment their main raid team members possessed — short of Epic-grade weapons and armor — was Level 65 Dark Gold gear. And even among the superpowers, not every main raid team member was fully outfitted in Level 65 Dark Gold equipment.
Being able to assemble a complete set of Level 65 Dark Gold gear made one among the rarest in any superpower's main raid team — for current players, it was essentially god-tier equipment, more than enough to clear a Level 70 hundred-man team dungeon without issue.
And now, a full Dark Gold eight-piece set spanning Level 60 to 80 was laid out right before their eyes. An eight-piece set at that — Dark Gold eight-piece sets were second only to Epic-grade equipment at the same level. This was the real deal — genuine god-tier gear.
But that wasn't even the most important part. What truly staggered them was the equipment's level range.
If a player could obtain such a set at Level 70, clearing a Level 70 hundred-man team dungeon would pose no challenge whatsoever. And since this set was heavy armor with no class restrictions, even tanks could wear it…
Which meant that once the various guilds reached Level 70 and ventured into hundred-man team dungeons, the task would become dramatically easier. They would have a massive head start over every other guild in conquering the Level 70 team dungeon raids.