After Shi Feng left the reception room, Feitohaliya and the other two stood there staring at his departing figure, dazed for a long while.
"Was this Guild Master Black Flame always this impulsive?"
Feitohaliya couldn't help but ask Macaffrey and the Scarlet Witch, feeling as though she simply couldn't keep up with Shi Feng's pace.
Interest disputes between guilds, especially those between major superpowers, rarely escalated to open warfare. Normally, both sides would negotiate first, and only resort to fighting if talks broke down. After all, guild wars were no joke — regardless of victory or defeat, both sides would suffer considerable damage, potentially crippling ones.
Yet she had merely suggested negotiating with the Underworld Empire first, with some concessions prepared. After all, the interests at stake with the Starshine Bastion were enormous, with too many superpowers currently eyeing it. The moment anything went wrong with the bastion, these superpowers would pounce like starving wolves.
If they could settle the Underworld Empire — this super guild — with minimal cost, everything that followed would be much easier to handle.
But Shi Feng? He had refused without a second thought, declaring it was either their deaths or his own, with no other possibility…
That was hardly something a guild master would say. It was more like the behavior of a reckless brute.
Though she could understand to some extent.
Capturing the Starshine Bastion had been extraordinarily difficult. After all that effort to seize it, just as they were about to reap the rewards, a bunch of people showed up wanting to snatch their harvest — wanting a piece of the pie. That was guaranteed to make anyone furious. But this sort of thing was commonplace in both virtual gaming and the real world.
When your position was weaker, clashing head-on was an exceedingly unwise move.
Especially now, when the Starshine Bastion wasn't being watched by just one or two superpowers, but over a dozen. As long as someone took the lead, even if they couldn't capture the bastion, they could render it unmanageable — make it impossible to operate.
Because the Starshine Bastion wasn't like other places. In other locations, NPC guards would at least assist in managing the fortifications, but the Starshine Bastion was managed entirely by players and still in a half-controlled state. The bastion's magic arrays couldn't actually prevent players from entering — they could only rely on players to stop them. Even combat within the bastion worked the same way.
And the superpowers eyeing the Starshine Bastion numbered over a dozen. Add the Underworld Empire to that, and these superpowers only needed to send some of their experts to cause trouble inside the bastion. With their manpower and strength, there was no way to keep things under control — they might not even be able to stop them from getting in.
Once enough time passed, what player in the entire Divine Realm would dare come to the Starshine Bastion?
"This Guild Master Black Flame is certainly very straightforward, but I didn't expect him to be so resolute — not even leaving a shred of room for negotiation," Macaffrey said, Shi Feng's decisiveness exceeding his expectations.
"Commander Feitohaliya, what do we do next? If he won't negotiate at all, are we really going to take on all these superpowers head-on?" the Scarlet Witch asked Feitohaliya with some worry.
After their Divine Will Tribe had struck a deal with Zero Wing regarding the bastion, they had invested heavily to develop this temporary base. They even had a series of plans to pour a massive amount of the tribe's resources into the Starshine Bastion.
If the Starshine Bastion truly became a lawless zone that everyone feared, all of the Divine Will Tribe's investment would go to waste.
"I actually know the commander of the Underworld Empire's ace legion, Hellish Roar. Since he's personally leading the team here this time, I'll find a way to have a good talk with him," Feitohaliya said with a smile, looking at the worried Scarlet Witch. "Besides, we haven't reached that point yet. Once the experts from the various superpowers and the Underworld Empire arrive, this Guild Master Black Flame might realize his decision wasn't so wise after all. When that happens, there might still be a turning point."
She had encountered people like Shi Feng before — in fact, she had seen many. Experts were proud by nature, and Zero Wing had captured the Starshine Bastion, achieving what no major superpower on the Western Continent could. He was naturally confident in his strength and feared no battle.
But when these superpowers' experts truly gathered and he felt their power firsthand, Shi Feng changing his mind wouldn't be unusual at all. After all, Shi Feng and his people had only recently arrived on the Western Continent. They had no idea how formidable the superpowers here were, much less how terrifying the Underworld Empire truly was.
While Feitohaliya and the others discussed how to face the various superpowers, Shi Feng had already made his way alone to the third floor of the City Lord's Mansion — the Lord's Office — ready to assume control over the entire Starshine Bastion.
Previously, while he had unlocked the City Lord's Mansion's sealing magic array and allowed Fire Dance and the others to enter the Legacy Chamber, he had not yet seized control of the entire Starshine Bastion.
Because the control of an Ancient Bastion wasn't something you simply obtained by holding the Lord's Token. You also had to complete a simple handover process — or rather, acquire the bastion's administrative authority.
As Shi Feng opened the locked doors of the Lord's Office, he found an elderly man dressed in butler's attire standing quietly within the ancient, worn interior.
Though this old man appeared entirely translucent and radiated no pressure whatsoever, he was virtually invincible within the entire City Lord's Mansion — and he was the true administrator who controlled the entirety of the Starshine Bastion.
"Holder of the Lord's Token, I am Osatord, the administrator of the Starshine Bastion. How may I be of service?" Osatord asked Shi Feng upon his entry, with great respect.
"I wish to acquire administrative control of the Starshine Bastion," Shi Feng said directly.
Ancient Bastions were different from other fortresses — all operational control rested with the administrator, which was why the bastion had always remained in a half-controlled state.
What a player who obtained the Lord's Token could do was acquire the bastion's control rights from the administrator. However, this acquisition also required obtaining the Lord's Seal from within the Gate of Inheritance. Without it, one would be nothing more than a Lord in name only — replaceable at any moment.
Because before obtaining authority, the entire bastion only recognized the token, not the person. Moreover, the Lord's Token received no protection whatsoever — it had to be kept on one's person at all times. If one left the bastion for too long, the token would automatically return to the bastion, appearing at a random location within it.
Only after obtaining the Bronze Seal and gaining the bastion's authority would he truly become a half-owner of the bastion. He would be able to store the token in the City Lord's Mansion's core vault, activate the mansion's defensive magic arrays, and free himself from the bastion's constraints entirely.