"Going back so soon? But we've only just managed to stabilize Star Shine Fortress — it's entered a phase of rapid development. If we leave, I'm afraid problems won't be long in appearing…" Water Colour Rose was startled when she heard Shi Feng say they were returning to the Eastern Continent. "And what about the nearly three hundred experts from the Hell Army? Does the Guild Master mean for them to garrison Star Shine Fortress?"
Currently, the importance of Star Shine Fortress was in no way inferior to Stone Forest City back on the Eastern Continent — in terms of magic crystal income, it even far surpassed Stone Forest City. If they made a quick profit and left, it would be a tremendous waste.
What made Star Shine Fortress most valuable wasn't its magic crystal income, but rather its magical environment — it was currently the best place on the Western Continent for cultivating magic power control.
"Star Shine Fortress may bring in massive resources and wealth, but it's ultimately just a tiny patch of land. If we truly want to gain a foothold on the Western Continent and continuously draw upon its various resources, what ultimately matters is the territory we control. So we must establish our own kingdoms and empires here on the Western Continent — otherwise, relying on the number of players Star Shine Fortress has attracted, trying to carve out a place for ourselves here is nothing but a pipe dream." Shi Feng shook his head with a smile and explained, "That's precisely why we need to seize as many teleportation channels on the Eastern Continent as possible before the major superpowers there commit fully to developing here, and bring our people over. Otherwise, with the channels we have now, just holding Star Shine Fortress would be our absolute limit, let alone any future development."
Originally, he had no plans to develop on the Western Continent — he had only intended to gather some resources to supply Zero Wing. After all, travel between the two continents was exceedingly difficult, and with Zero Wing's current capabilities, sustaining development across both was simply impossible.
But after obtaining Star Shine Fortress and the Holy Dragon, and witnessing the power of magic power combat techniques, his thinking had completely changed.
In his previous life, magic power combat techniques had not been highly valued by the major superpowers. However, having already learned them himself, he understood all too well just how much they could aid future advancement — especially reaching Tier 4. At minimum, they could reduce the difficulty of promotion by thirty to forty percent. Even without mastering them, they still provided a significant boost to one's combat power — even greater than learning combat skills, because Tier 3 was ultimately just a transitional stage. In the end, who was truly strong depended on those standing at the very pinnacle. This was exactly why first-rate powers could never match the superpowers.
And Star Shine Fortress was currently the best place on the Western Continent for improving one's magic power control.
With the current teleportation channel limited to ten people at a time, and only one transfer per week, it would take forever to bring over all of Zero Wing's main raid team and reserve team members. By then, it would be far too late.
Time waited for no one. Divine Realm's explosive popularity meant its development pace could be described as changing with each passing day. The major superpowers, with their vast reserves of experts and enormous territorial holdings, could outpace Zero Wing effortlessly as long as they had resources and funding to keep up.
That was why he needed to accelerate — to find a way to claim more teleportation channels on the Eastern Continent. That way, Zero Wing could tap into the resources and advantages of both continents, and the speed at which the guild's experts improved would leave the superpowers far behind in the dust.
As soon as she heard this, Water Colour Rose's eyes lit up.
If they could truly bring over a large number of Zero Wing's experts, then what did they have to fear about confronting the superpowers head-on? It might even be possible to leap into the ranks of a true superpower. After all, the only things the superpowers had over Zero Wing were the quantity and quality of their experts — in terms of guild resources and income, Zero Wing was now in no way inferior to an ordinary superpower.
"Guild Master, if that's the case, then why bother hiring those Hell Army members? Star Shine Fortress won't face any major problems in the short term. Once our people start arriving in large numbers, along with us holding the fort, we won't need that batch from the Hell Army to help garrison the fortress," Water Colour Rose asked, puzzled.
She had no doubts about Shi Feng's abilities — he had already achieved too many miracles. But hiring the Hell Army was simply a waste. Those soldiers could only remain on the Western Continent, and unlocking the Body of Magic Power was no easy task. Rather than spending time on them, it would be far better to invest in Zero Wing's own Tier 3 experts, which would benefit the guild even more.
"The Hell Army is one of the top elite forces in all of Divine Realm right now. Why on earth would I hire them just to waste their strength garrisoning a fortress? I'm planning to bring them back with us," Shi Feng said with a smile at the bewildered Water Colour Rose.
He wasn't worried about Star Shine Fortress in the short term at all. He had just crushed Phantom Myth, and until the various powers had sufficient confidence, none would dare make a move against Star Shine Fortress — unless they wanted to be driven out of the Valley of Stars entirely and watch helplessly as other factions thrived there.
"Bring them back with us?" Water Colour Rose was stunned. "But the teleportation channel only allows ten people back and forth per week, and there are nearly three hundred of them…"
Nearly three hundred people!
A rough estimate put it at thirty weeks…
"Of course — why else would I hire them?" Shi Feng chuckled. "On the Eastern Continent, the only way to come to the Western Continent might be through the ancient teleportation channels. But there's more than one way to go back."
For other factions, traveling between the two continents likely had only the ancient teleportation channels. But for him, that wasn't the case — otherwise, he never would have made that promise to the Underworld Empire.
"Is that really possible?" Water Colour Rose felt like Shi Feng was joking with her.
They had gone through incredible hardship just to reach the Western Continent, nearly being wiped out entirely and suffering irrecoverable losses. She believed other superpowers that could travel between the two continents had faced equally dire struggles.
The difficulty of traveling between the two continents in Divine Realm was undoubtedly comparable in both directions. How could it be that the return trip was easy while the journey there was hard — and with a large local force to boot? If such a good deal existed, the superpowers traveling between the two continents would have been turned upside down long ago.
"Don't worry. But we don't need to rush back right away either — we still need to wait for the various rare materials that the Divine Intent Tribe has been collecting to arrive before we leave," Shi Feng said with certainty.
After witnessing Star Shine Fortress's effects and obtaining the legacy of the Azure Sage, he had given it careful thought.
Though he didn't know the reason, traveling between the two continents was extraordinarily difficult. However, traveling between the two continents via other planes of existence was much easier.
He could take everyone to another planar world first, and from there return to the Eastern Continent.
Opening a passage to a planar world might be extremely difficult for others, but for him it was simple.
He possessed the legendary item, the Ring of Morok. With it, he could easily open the Dark Gate and enter the central zone of the Dark Cavern — with no limit on the number of people, only a time restriction. Ten minutes was more than enough time to bring three hundred people through.
He had originally wanted to avoid using the Ring of Morok as much as possible, since activating its power would accelerate its rate of consumption. But being able to bring nearly three hundred Tier 3 experts back to the Eastern Continent — it was absolutely worth the cost.
Afterward, Shi Feng waited at Star Shine Fortress for another day. He not only signed the hiring contract with the Underworld Empire, but also had Yan Tianxing and Yi Luofei familiarize themselves with the Star Shine Fortress city lord's mansion and the fortress as a whole — partly to prepare for managing Star Shine Fortress afterward, and partly to ensure the healthy development of the Adventurer's Alliance. After all, the two of them had the deepest understanding of managing adventuring parties and the issues surrounding free adventuring groups.
Once everything was settled, Fetterharia arrived at Star Shine Fortress accompanied by experts from the Divine Intent Tribe, transporting a massive haul of rare Western Continent materials along with some non-storable items. The entire shipment was valued at over three million magic crystals, and Shi Feng stowed every last piece into his Epic-grade spatial backpack. Bringing it back to the Eastern Continent would easily double the profit.
"Guild Master, Fire Dance and the rest, along with all the Hell Army members, have arrived," Water Colour Rose said as she watched Shi Feng walk into the second-floor hall of the city lord's mansion, still somewhat unable to believe what was happening.
"Good. Let's head back to the Eastern Continent!"
Shi Feng smiled and began chanting a spell, opening a Dark Gate in the second-floor hall. He had everyone present walk through it one by one.
Before long, the once-packed second-floor hall was completely empty — every last person had vanished…