Magic Wolf Mountain Range, Wind Howl Gorge.
Shi Feng led Ke Le and the others on a hillside, frantically holding off the swarm of magic wolves surging up from below. Their numbers dwarfed those of the snow wolf pack—easily several thousand—and most were above Level 110, with some reaching as high as 114. Among them were no shortage of Great Lords, and even a handful of High Great Lords, keeping Ke Le and the rest busy without a single moment's rest.
If not for the Gold-grade Guard Corps blocking the only mountain pass and Anna, the Epic-grade guard, suppressing the horde with her magic arrays, Shi Feng's group would have long since been devoured by these high-level wolves.
"Guild Leader, farming here is just insane!" Blackie said with a laugh as he watched yet another pack of magic wolves appear at the base of the slope. "These wolves just keep coming wave after wave—our leveling speed is way faster than grinding the snow wolf pack. I feel like we could hit Level 105 in less than a day."
With the Gold-grade Guard Corps boosting them, he had already thought their leveling speed was impressive, but compared to now, the two weren't even in the same league.
Before, they had to spend considerable time just tracking down snow wolves, but here, with the Gold-grade Guard Corps holding the front line, all they had to do was keep attacking. With the endless stream of magic wolves drawn to their location, their efficiency had more than doubled.
"These monsters are all above Level 110—we can easily keep this leveling speed going all the way to 110. By then, even if the top experts from the major superpowers advance to Tier 3, Zero Wing won't have anything to fear," Yan Tianxing said, his eyes gleaming.
Though they had already reached Tier 3 well ahead of the major superpowers, giving Zero Wing's status a tremendous boost, he understood something very well: in terms of both numbers and quality, the superpowers' Tier 3 experts far surpassed what Zero Wing currently had. Their lead was only temporary.
Once the superpowers' Tier 3 experts erupted in force, Zero Wing would find itself in a difficult position.
He had been worried about this for some time, especially with Starfall as their bitter rival and the various extraplanar forces invading the Divine Realm—not to mention all of them eyeing the Level 100 neutral map resources and Stone Forest City covetously.
But now his worries had eased considerably.
In the Divine Realm, once a player reached Tier 3, the attribute gains from leveling up became far less significant. What truly affected combat power was one's equipment and personal skill. If they could level up quickly, Zero Wing's top fighters would have more time to take on high-tier quests, improve their gear, and hone themselves—making them fully capable of going toe-to-toe with the superpowers' best and cementing Zero Wing's standing.
"Where in the world would you find a treasure spot like this on a Level 100 neutral map?" Shi Feng said with an amused smile, seeing the eager looks on everyone's faces as they wished they could rush to Level 110 to close the gap with the superpowers' top-tier and peak experts. "There's no shortage of monsters to kill here, but the drain on stamina and mental energy is enormous. We can't stay here long."
He had known about this place for a long time. The reason he hadn't come here from the start to farm magic points was that the environment consumed players' stamina and mental energy at an alarming rate. Factoring everything in, it was actually no faster than grinding the snow wolf pack, and the loot was even worse.
However, Zero Wing's current situation no longer allowed him to spend extended time in the Magic Wolf Mountain Range, which was why they had come now.
Hearing Shi Feng's words, everyone instinctively checked their stamina and mental energy levels. Sure enough, just as he had said, the consumption rate here was more than double what they had experienced before—far too fast for sustained farming.
"Of course, while farming the magic wolves here drains stamina and mental energy quickly, the unique magical environment lets us practice our Tier 3 magic skills much more effectively and get a better feel for our Mana Bodies. That's something you'd rarely find in the outside world," Shi Feng added with a smile, noticing the disappointed expressions on their faces.
The Magic Wolf Mountain Range was far more than just a zone of death. It was also a treasure ground for players who had reached Level 100 and advanced to Tier 3 to sharpen and improve themselves. Especially in the regions where the magic wolves were exceptionally frenzied, not only was the exotic energy formidable, but the magical energy was wildly volatile—making it tremendously helpful for players to familiarize themselves with their Mana Bodies.
In such a volatile magical environment, players needed extremely strong control over their Mana Bodies to cope.
The greatest difference between Tier 2 and Tier 3 Classes was the Mana Body—a player's own source of magical power. The way one wielded magical energy at Tier 3 was fundamentally different from Tier 2.
At Tier 2, players merely borrowed the ambient magical energy around them. But at Tier 3, they had to channel both their own internal magical energy and the ambient energy simultaneously. That was precisely why Tier 3 magic skills were so much more powerful.
However, channeling one's own magical energy was far from easy—it required a thorough understanding of one's Mana Body. And in an environment where the surrounding magical energy was so chaotic, it was extremely difficult to draw on external mana. Players had no choice but to rely as much as possible on their own internal reserves, which made it invaluable for mastering control of their Mana Bodies.
"True—I feel like my sensitivity to my own magical energy is sharper here," Ilfei chimed in. "The effect isn't huge yet, but channeling my own mana is getting more and more natural."
She had advanced to Tier 3 previously, but when casting magic, she had always felt like something was missing. At the time, she had assumed she simply wasn't used to the Tier 3 physique yet. But now it was clear that the real reason had been her lack of control over her Mana Body, which kept her spellcasting from being truly perfect.