The opening of Stone Forest City sent shockwaves through the entire Cold Spring Forest. Countless expert players and teams active within the Cold Spring Forest couldn't resist rushing over at the very first opportunity, and the main gate of Stone Forest City quickly saw a massive queue forming—one glance revealed tens of thousands of people, and the number was still climbing.
Every single one of them had the same goal.
They wanted to enter this leveling sanctuary within the Cold Spring Forest and see it for themselves, while also confirming whether Stone Forest City's opening was actually real.
Though the regional system announcement couldn't lie, no one could say for certain that Zero Wing wouldn't have a change of heart and simply seal off Stone Forest City again. After all, the profits tied to Stone Forest City were far too enormous.
Every time private housing rentals became available in Stone Forest City, the major powers and wealthy players would compete fiercely, driving prices to astronomical sums while other players could only watch helplessly.
The opening of Stone Forest City meant that gaining entry was no longer limited to renting private residences—anyone could enter by paying an admission fee, which would slash the value of those private rentals considerably.
Beyond the rental income, the various factions that had partnered with Zero Wing had also paid a considerable price to establish themselves in Stone Forest City.
Now that Stone Forest City was fully open to the public, those factions would have no reason to continue paying the resources or gold they'd originally agreed to.
Most importantly, Stone Forest City provided massive advantages in leveling speed and resource acquisition. If it were opened up, Zero Wing Guild's edge would be severely diminished—so it wasn't impossible that Zero Wing would seal the city off again later.
"This Zero Wing really wants money and doesn't care about their lives—even now, they're charging ten silver coins per person just to enter the city! That's nothing short of robbery!" A female Warlock who had reached the third tier and radiated an aura of dark energy narrowed her delicate brows as she glared at the second-tier NPC knight collecting her fee, wishing she could cut down those second-tier NPC knights on the spot.
Normally, the admission fee for a guild city was only a few dozen copper coins. Even for the fortress cities of those superpowers, located in neighboring maps close to level-100 neutral zones, the fee was merely two silver coins.
Yet Stone Forest City's fee was five times that of those guild cities!
Keep in mind that right now, even a top-tier second-tier expert player was lucky to have forty or fifty silver coins left over at the end of a day. That amount came from ranged level-100 experts—melee level-100 experts would be doing well to pocket thirty silver, unless they got lucky and scored some rare materials or precious items. Otherwise, the net daily earnings were pitiful.
It might look like everyone had higher levels now, could defeat stronger monsters, earned bigger quest rewards, and had more ways to make money—but expenses had ballooned too.
Fighting monsters above level 100 meant that no matter how carefully you treated your weapons and equipment, their durability would tank at a terrifying rate. The repair costs alone were enough to make your heart ache, not to mention the spending on potions, other consumables, and the constant need to upgrade gear. What was left at the end of the day was next to nothing.
As for going to lower-level areas to farm monsters or materials—sure, you might earn more that way, but it would be putting the cart before the horse.
Even expert players from major factions, if they dropped out of the front lines for too long, would quickly fall behind the top tier. Catching up again was extraordinarily difficult, and they might even miss out on opportunities to rise in power.
So even the most destitute front-line players wouldn't abandon their tier just to squeeze out a bit more income.
And here they were, merely entering the city—not even staying at an inn in Stone Forest City—yet it would cost a full ten silver coins. That was practically robbery. Even actual robbers couldn't make money that fast.
Ten silver per person. Ten thousand people entering each day meant a thousand gold. A hundred thousand people meant ten thousand gold. A million people meant a hundred thousand gold.
A hundred thousand gold!
That kind of money was something even a top-tier guild might struggle to produce right now, and this was only from a million people. Given Stone Forest City's advantages in a level-100 neutral zone, attracting two or three million visitors would be child's play—which meant daily admission fees alone would bring in two hundred to three hundred thousand gold...
And as more and more players ventured into the Cold Spring Forest to develop, that number would only continue to grow.
"Hua Yu! Now is not the time to start something—pay up and get inside the city as fast as you can." Iron Bones Canxin, standing behind the female Warlock, spoke up to warn her. "Once the major superpowers arrive with their armies, you can cause as much trouble as you want."
He was truly at a loss with this woman.
She was already a third-tier class—ten silver coins was nothing to an expert of her caliber. She could easily earn tens of gold just by showing up to help any team, with some gigs paying as much as a hundred gold. And yet here she was, fuming over a ten-silver admission fee.