White River City, Zero Wing's headquarters.
After Shi Feng and the others returned to the headquarters, the guild—which should have been bustling—was remarkably quiet. Even the long lines of players applying before had dwindled significantly, with fewer than a hundred people taking Zero Wing's trial. It was nothing like the prosperity expected of the Star Moon Kingdom's dominant power.
It wasn't until the guild members inside caught sight of Shi Feng and the others that a hint of excitement finally appeared on their faces.
"The Guild Leader! The Guild Leader is back!"
"That's great! Boss Hei Zi and the others are back too!"
Several hundred people inside the headquarters rushed forward to greet them. Liang Jing, who had been managing things from the first-floor lobby, also showed a measure of excitement upon seeing Shi Feng and the others walk in.
"Guild Leader, you've finally come back!" Liang Jing let out a deep breath of relief as she looked at Shi Feng. "If you hadn't come back soon, I honestly wouldn't have known what to do."
"Why has the guild suddenly gotten so quiet? What's been happening these past few days? Was the gold from renting out the private residences in Stone Forest City not enough?" Shi Feng asked in confusion.
He had contacted them only half a day ago. The income from renting out the private residences should have netted at least twenty to thirty thousand gold this round. There was no way it wouldn't even last half a day. Zero Wing had other sources of income as well, and with their activities in the Dark Night Empire scaled back, they should have been able to hold out for five or six days without any problem.
"Gold is still sufficient for now," Liang Jing said with some urgency. "But about half a day ago, a special ruin was discovered in the Earth Core Mountain Range. Inside the ruin, there were Hippogriff eggs—and not just one. The entire Dragon Heart Island has been thrown into an uproar. Now every major superpower has sent people to the ruin to search for Hippogriff eggs, and we've joined forces with Feng Qianyu's side to look for them as well. But the Blood War Adventure Team and Star Ring have started causing trouble again, frantically intercepting us at the ruin site. So we've sent Fire Dance and the other Tier 3 experts, along with our Level 100+ players, to provide full support. But not long after, Star Ring went completely berserk and started targeting our people everywhere on the neutral maps around the Star Moon Kingdom. Right now, Zero Wing has no one left who can deal with the situation."
"Hippogriff eggs?" Shi Feng's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
He had never imagined that the Earth Core Mountain Range would contain Hippogriff eggs. In his previous life, he had never even heard of such a thing.
Hippogriffs were flying mounts in the Divine Realm. Although they were only mid-grade ordinary flying mounts, they were still flying mounts nonetheless. Once one obtained a Hippogriff egg and hatched it, the hatchling could be taken to a tamer for domestication, turning it into a true flying mount.
The advantages of flying mounts were something every major superpower had been driven to madness over.
Yet until now, apart from Zero Wing, the number of superpowers in the entire Eastern Continent that possessed flying mounts could be counted on one hand.
The future belonged to flying mounts. whichever faction had more flying mounts would hold the greater advantage.
Now that Hippogriff eggs had appeared in the ruin, it was easy to imagine how crazy every major superpower would become. No wonder Fire Dance and the others wanted to go search for them. And Star Ring, in order to prevent Zero Wing from gaining any benefit from the ruin, was putting enormous pressure on them around the Star Moon Kingdom.
"Also, I've received intelligence from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion," Liang Jing added, her tone growing more worried. "The Demon Emperor's Hall has secretly dispatched more than a dozen Tier 3 experts to the Earth Core Mountain Range, planning to secretly join forces with Star Ring and Blood War to strike against us. Fire Dance's group could be in serious danger."
Many factions now had Tier 3 experts who had completed their class advancement. Zero Wing did have an advantage in the sheer number of Tier 3 players, but that wasn't enough when multiple superpowers joined forces.
"In that case, we'll split into two groups," Shi Feng said after a moment. "Ke Le, Turtledove, Shadow Sword—you three come with me to the Earth Core Mountain Range. Tianxing, you take the rest to deal with those people on the neutral maps."
"Guild Leader, going with just the four of you is far too dangerous. You should bring more people. The Earth Core Mountain Range isn't only home to Star Ring—there are experts from many other superpowers there as well," Liang Jing protested in alarm.
Shi Feng was the guild's most iconic figure. He absolutely could not be put in jeopardy. The Divine Realm of today was no longer what it used to be.
In the past, with his Tier 3 class, no one had been able to threaten Shi Feng. But the Divine Realm had changed drastically over these past few days. Tier 3 experts were becoming more and more common, and Zero Wing could no longer act as freely as before. One wrong move and disaster could strike.
"Relax—with the four of us along, nobody's getting within a single step of the Guild Leader!" Ke Le patted his chest and grinned.
"But still…" Liang Jing looked at Ke Le and the other two with lingering worry. After all, times had changed. Ke Le and the others had been off completing quests and had no idea just how much the Divine Realm had shifted in their absence.
"Don't worry, Sister Jing. Our strength has improved quite a bit," Shadow Sword said with a nod.
They hadn't spent all that time in the Demon Wolf Mountain Range for nothing. Especially with their sets of Cold Wolf equipment—perhaps they couldn't handle a monster like Ulunim, but against other Tier 3 experts on equal footing, they were more than capable.