"556 people? How can there be so many!"
Shi Feng stared at the knight class-change roster in his hands, his eyes filled with disbelief.
By his estimate, even though the knights he had recruited previously were of generally high quality, advancing to Tier 3 was still a significant hurdle for NPCs — no simpler than the process for players.
Based on his experience and data from his previous life, a five-thousand-strong knight corps having just over two hundred successful promotions would already be considered impressive.
But now the number had more than doubled…
Over five hundred Tier 3 NPCs — at that scale, the Tier 3 forces alone were practically comparable to a Two-Star Lord's.
A Two-Star Lord's fame rating reached a minimum of two hundred points, and the knight corps under their command exceeded those of a One-Star Lord by two thousand additional soldiers. The attraction for NPCs was also significantly greater than that of a One-Star Lord.
Under those circumstances, even a Two-Star Lord might only have around six hundred Tier 3 knights, and achieving that required massive investments of time and resources — not something accomplished overnight.
After all, for players in the Divine Realm, many skilled players couldn't even reach Tier 3. Even those who did manage to advance often weren't particularly strong in terms of combat power at that tier. A mere Bronze Rank Tier 3 knight could easily suppress them.
Generally, around two hundred Bronze Rank Tier 3 knights were enough to reliably secure a city with a population of two to three million — making it even safer than many NPC cities.
When it came to powerful Tier 3 players, in smaller NPC cities, they could theoretically rely on their own strength to forcibly kill other players and then flee. The high-level Tier 2 guards in those small NPC cities often couldn't stop them. But Tier 3 knights were a different story — even top-tier Tier 3 experts wouldn't stand a chance of escaping.
That was why, in his previous life, very few Tier 3 experts dared to cause trouble in cities garrisoned by Tier 3 knights, unless they were prepared for mutual destruction. And even then, things could easily backfire, resulting in their own demise rather than successfully taking down their target.
This was precisely what made a One-Star Lord so formidable. If guild members were assigned to guard a city, they simply couldn't produce the same deterrent effect.
Now, with 556 Tier 3 knights, managing a major city of two to three million residents was a cakewalk. They could handle two such cities without any issue, and could even guarantee absolute security for a single high-tier city.
"Could it be because I was one of the first One-Star Lords to recruit from the major kingdoms and empires, so these knights all happen to have exceptionally high potential?" Shi Feng mulled it over, and that seemed like the only plausible explanation.
Back then, he had spent a fortune recruiting people from cities across various kingdoms and empires. The number of recruits had far exceeded his expectations, and their quality was unprecedented.
These recruited knights likely all possessed considerable potential among their peers. For example, among Bronze Rank knights, potential ranged from 31 to 50 points. A Bronze Rank knight with 49 points of potential would have a significantly higher success rate in advancing to Tier 3 compared to one with just 31 points.
If the knight corps as a whole had uniformly high potential, then having so many successful promotions wasn't hard to understand at all.
"Respected Bronze Legacy bearer, would you like to process the paperwork now?" Steward Roland asked, noticing Shi Feng's momentary daze.
"Yes, of course! Process it right away!" Shi Feng snapped back to attention immediately.
This was 556 Tier 3 NPCs they were talking about. At present, a major superpower would be fortunate to field fifty or sixty Tier 3 experts. Over five hundred Tier 3 experts would be an astronomical number for any of today's superpowers — and these were Tier 3 NPCs who were even stronger than Tier 3 players.
If word of this got out, it would be enough to frighten people to death!
The only drawback was that these knights, unlike direct subordinates, could only operate within his territory. Otherwise, with over five hundred Tier 3 NPCs at his command, which superpower could possibly stand against him?
"Very well. The class-change processing fee for each Tier 3 promotion is ten gold coins, for a total of 5,560 gold," Steward Roland said.