Outside the luxurious and elegant reception room, the moment Shi Feng spoke, the third-rank assassin from Violet Sword standing nearby immediately scoffed.
"You think you can take off your black cloak and somehow match the presence of our coaches?"
The black cloak's only function was to conceal a player's stats—the aura a player radiated couldn't be hidden at all. This was common knowledge in the Divine Realm.
Of course, there were items in the Divine Realm that could mask a player's aura and presence, but such items were not only exceedingly rare, they also had very little practical use. Expert players could conceal themselves with their own abilities and had no need for such items.
Not only the third-rank assassin from Violet Sword found this puzzling—even Pang Wushang, standing behind them, looked at Shi Feng with confusion, unable to understand why he would do something like this.
Taking off the black cloak only revealed his stats. Displaying those numbers meant nothing against the three monsters inside the reception room.
After all, the three people across from them were coaches of Violet Sword. Becoming a coach at a super guild meant you were a veteran of the highest caliber—an absolute core member of the guild's leadership.
A super guild came into possession of top-tier equipment every single day. What kind of weapons and gear hadn't they seen? Now that Violet Sword was in high spirits and determined to put on a show of force to make them back off, even a full set of top-notch equipment wouldn't change a thing.
As for showing Violet Sword their true stats as a gesture of sincerity—there was no point either, because those people wouldn't even bother looking.
Just as the third-rank assassin and Pang Wushang were thinking this, the Water Color Rose and the others also removed their black cloaks, revealing their hidden stats—and the two of them nearly had their eyes pop out of their heads.
Level 117!
One after another, the dazzling level numbers were impossible to ignore, even if you tried.
And at the same moment Water Color Rose shed her black cloak, she and the others also unleashed a terrifying pressure that was like a volcano erupting…
The surrounding mana was drawn toward Water Color Rose and the others almost involuntarily, forming mana vortices that left the ambient magical energy dangerously thin. Combined with an aura that rivaled a fourth-rank legendary monster's, the third-rank assassin and Pang Wushang both instinctively retreated two or three steps, putting as much distance between themselves and the group as they could bear.
The levels and pressure of Water Color Rose and the others instantly left the three inside the reception room—Torre, Wildfire Berserker, and Silent Red Star—with looks of sheer astonishment on their faces.
"Level 117! How is that possible?! Even our guild's top-level grinder is only at 114 right now. How can they be that high?" Wildfire Berserker stared at Water Color Rose and the others, a shock he couldn't put into words washing through him. "Do they have some kind of special leveling route or something?"
Their own levels weren't the highest in the guild, because aside from grinding, they also had the duty of training the guild's newcomers—they couldn't devote themselves entirely to leveling.
But even so, they had never fallen behind, because in the Divine Realm's hundred-plus-level maps, players suffered erosion from strange energy and couldn't stay out in the field indefinitely. They all needed to return to town to rest. During those rest periods, they trained guild newcomers, so while their levels might not match those of members who ground nonstop, the gap was never significant.
But a five-level difference?! What was this?!
And it wasn't just one person—every Zero Wing member who removed their black cloak was at level 117. There were fully eight of them…
"No, I can tell their mana bodies have all been fully unlocked. This can't just be because they have some special leveling method." Silent Red Star shook his head.
In the Divine Realm, there was only one way to level quickly: kill monsters. The stronger the monster, the more experience points you gained. Monsters six or more levels below you gave zero experience, and if you farmed monsters even three levels lower, you got less than fifty percent of the normal experience.
Quests offered decent experience too, but they were mainly a source of money, equipment, or special items. So the only real path to fast leveling was fighting monsters at your own level or higher.
That was precisely why high-level players in the Divine Realm were never weak. In the eyes of ordinary players, level was a direct reflection of strength.
While the three in the reception room were still reeling from the levels of Water Color Rose and the others, Shi Feng stepped into the room and walked right up to them—completely silent, as though he had been standing there from the start.
"Can we talk now?" Shi Feng looked at the three and asked calmly.
Only when Shi Feng spoke again did Wildfire Berserker and Silent Red Star snap back to reality and realize that Shi Feng was already standing right in front of them.
"Speak. What exactly do you want from our Violet Sword?" Torre looked at Shi Feng quietly, showing a serious expression for the first time—no trace of anger or condescension remained.
If only one Zero Wing member had reached level 117, he would have chalked it up to that person leveling fast and being fairly strong. But a whole group of them at level 117—and every single one with a fully unlocked mana body—that was no longer just about individual strength. That represented the foundation and power of an entire guild.