The appearance of Zero Wing's members left everyone present stunned.
"How are their levels so high?"
"There are actually so many Level 78 players? Star Ring only has less than a thousand who've reached Level 78, but Zero Wing has at least over three thousand at Level 78!"
"Is this the advantage that Stone Forest City brings?"
The higher-ups of the major powers looked at Zero Wing's members, all shocked by their levels.
Level 78 was hardly a shocking level — many top-tier experts had long since reached Level 78, and were probably only a hair's breadth away from Level 79. What truly surprised them was the number of Zero Wing members who had reached Level 78.
This far surpassed all the major super-guilds, which meant Zero Wing's leveling speed for its members had already exceeded that of the major super-guilds.
The lead might not seem like much, but one had to remember that before this, Zero Wing's expert players had average levels far inferior to those of the major super-guilds. After barely any time at all, their average level had already surpassed them.
Right now the gap might not even be half a level on average, but with time, it could very well exceed a full level.
Exceeding one level might not sound like much, but the gap and the benefits it brought were enormous. Especially at every five-level milestone and in team dungeon clears — the other super-guilds absolutely wouldn't be able to outpace them by three to five days. The benefits of this went without saying.
"The advantage of having Stone Forest City, with the Bottomless Abyss at its disposal, really is substantial. No wonder they dare to challenge Star Ring." Xue Linglong looked at Zero Wing's levels and couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy toward Stone Forest City.
Levels were always the foundation of any player. Never mind the natural stat boosts from leveling up — just the fact that higher levels allowed you to take on stronger monsters and gather more resources was critically important in itself. And the gear upgrades that came with leveling up were of paramount importance. The gap between Level 79 and Level 80 wasn't much in itself, but the equipment at Level 79 and the equipment at Level 80 were a world apart.
"I already told you that Zero Wing wouldn't necessarily lose." Bumie Zhanxin saw the envy in Xue Linglong's eyes and said smugly.
Zero Wing's players having higher levels might not mean much to ordinary players, but for guild executives, the significance was crystal clear.
In the Divine Realm, there were no shortcuts to leveling up. Higher levels naturally meant more experience gained — either through killing higher-level monsters, killing more monsters, or completing more quests. The more monsters you killed and quests you completed, the more resources you naturally obtained.
If Zero Wing's expert players were higher in level than Star Ring's, that meant Zero Wing was now gathering resources no worse than Star Ring. This much could be seen just from the gear worn by Zero Wing's members — almost all of it was Mythril Rank or above at Level 75.
Star Ring might have been faster in clearing the first floor of the Bottomless Abyss, but the resources Zero Wing had obtained from the Bottomless Abyss were actually greater than Star Ring's. These Level 75 Mythril equipment pieces were the best proof.
Moreover, he knew full well that Zero Wing wasn't lacking in top-tier gear. Sure, Star Ring might have gotten their hands on the Evil Ghost set, but Zero Wing had the even higher-tier Azure Radiance — that was a Dark Gold set, an entire tier above Evil Ghost. Most importantly, Azure Radiance could grow with the player's level.
Level 78 might not create a qualitative transformation for Azure Radiance, but its base stats would still be somewhat higher than a Level 75 Dark Gold set, let alone the Evil Ghost set.
"Bumie, you're getting ahead of yourself. Players' levels are certainly important, but when the level gap is this small, quality comes first!" Xue Linglong rolled her eyes at Bumie Zhanxin.
Zero Wing's experts held a slight lead in levels, but in terms of expert quality, they were worlds apart from Star Ring. The gap in caliber between Zero Wing's experts and Star Ring's — anyone who had reached the realm of subtlety could see it plain as day.
Star Ring had brought over seven hundred subtlety-realm experts — that number was simply terrifying! One had to understand that for first-rate guilds, having over a dozen subtlety-realm experts was already considered impressive. And as for the ordinary super-guilds — even with their constant recruitment, absorbing players from major guilds, workshops, and adventure teams, hiring seasoned veterans, and using massive funding to frantically train promising newcomers — four hundred was their absolute ceiling.