The main hall of the Thunder Palace was like stepping into a sprawling marketplace, with rare items and top-tier equipment displayed on every side. Even Bronze Rank mounts — something exceedingly hard to find in the outside world — were available for purchase. The sheer abundance left every player who entered dazzled and overwhelmed.
"So this is the main hall? Incredible — they're even selling Dark-Gold Sets for levels 80 to 100!" Yi Yun stared at the equipment on display behind the counters, her heart swelling with astonishment.
She was far from the only one stunned. Even Lunhui and Weiyang Qianhen felt their breathing quicken as they took in the rows of gleaming gear.
Dark-Gold equipment at level 80 was something every top-tier player craved at this stage, but acquiring it was brutally difficult. Normally, only an 80-level Hell Difficulty hundred-player Dungeon raid would drop such pieces, let alone a full set. Yet here in the Thunder Palace's main hall, Dark-Gold Sets sat behind glass with clear price tags.
Three hundred Thunder Source Crystals would buy the level 80 Phantom Thunder Set — a six-piece Dark-Gold ensemble whose set bonus was nothing short of extraordinary. Collecting all six pieces boosted a player's Constitution and Stamina by thirty percent.
Whether it was Constitution or Stamina, these attributes might not matter much in low-level zones, but in high-level maps they were worth far more than raw base stats. And yet equipment that enhanced these attributes was almost nonexistent on the market.
Now the Thunder Palace was selling them outright.
Among those present, the experts from the various superpowers had already turned red-eyed with envy, itching to simply seize the sets by force.
"Vice Hall Master, if we could get our hands on dozens of these Phantom Thunder Sets, the battle for the Heartcore Mountain Range stronghold would be as good as won," Biluo Wuqing said, his voice trembling with excitement as he stared at the displayed set.
Epic-grade equipment certainly boosted a player's combat power enormously, but Epic-grade pieces were far too scarce. Moreover, most Epic gear didn't enhance Constitution or Stamina — it simply offered stronger raw stats. In terms of clearing new territory, a player wearing the Phantom Thunder Set would outperform one decked in six pieces of Epic equipment.
The Heartcore Mountain Range was a perilous Forbidden Land they had discovered. If it had merely been rich in resources, that would have been one thing. But they had found that the Mountain Range was a remarkably unique map — one so free that even kingdoms and empires held no jurisdiction over it. Players could control it entirely, as though it were sovereign territory.
That discovery had driven every superpower into a frenzy.
Normally, owning a single city was enough to make a first-rate guild wealthy beyond measure, something even superpowers coveted. But now, the prospect of controlling an entire map — and one teeming with resources — represented wealth beyond imagination. Whoever commanded this map effectively possessed a micro-kingdom, and the region connected directly to level-100 zones, making it critical for every superpower's future development.
This was precisely why, even after Zero Wing had claimed Stone Forest City, most superpowers had paid it little mind. Compared to this Forbidden Land, even a God-grade area Dungeon was secondary.
Yet the Heartcore Mountain Range remained a Forbidden Land, incomparable to any ordinary area Dungeon or secret realm. The place drained players' Stamina at an alarming rate, and magical energy was woefully scarce inside. Even though the monsters there were considerably weaker than those of the Bottomless Abyss, every superpower's teams struggled to handle them — let alone clearing out the ancient fortresses within to serve as bases.
"I understand," Xuan Jing replied, well aware of what Biluo Wuqing meant. This was exactly why they had come to the Thunder Mystery Realm in the first place.
Progress at the Heartcore Mountain Range had stalled completely, so the guild had begun shifting its focus, searching for ways to bolster its main raiding force. The Thunder Mystery Realm was an ideal place for that — after all, a Divine God's secret realm was bound to contain plenty of valuable treasures.
But every item in the Thunder Palace's main hall was priced in Thunder Source Crystals. Without those crystals, you couldn't buy a single thing. All you could do was stand by and seethe with envy.
As the superpower members racked their brains trying to figure out what Thunder Source Crystals actually were, Lunhui and his group exchanged glances. The name was strikingly familiar.
"Isn't that one of the items the boss dropped when we killed it?" Zhuohai whispered.
"Things here really aren't easy to come by," Lunhui nodded, a hint of regret in his voice. "Looks like we'll have to start with the guided quests."