"It can be promoted already?"
Shi Feng looked at the system notification in the bottom corner of his vision, quite surprised.
Although given Silverwing Town's rate of development, its promotion to a Basic City was only a matter of time, the fact that it could be promoted right now still caught him off guard.
He hadn't expected that empowering the town's core magic array with mana would bring such a benefit.
A Basic City's defenses were far superior to those of an Advanced Town, and the number of NPC guards it could hire represented a qualitative leap. With so many players currently active in the Beastman Empire, yet so few guild towns available, as long as safety could be guaranteed, a guild town's development would absolutely thrive.
However, faced with the sudden promotion prompt, Shi Feng didn't rush to promote Silverwing Town. Instead, he shifted his gaze to the blood-red pillar of light at the center of the room and began taking out magic crystal after magic crystal, manipulating the blood-red mana pillar to merge into every magic array throughout Silverwing Town.
Promoting Silverwing Town now would indeed greatly boost its defenses, but there was a price—all players within the town would be teleported out.
With the Sacred Sculpture army already bearing down on them, there simply wasn't time to let Silverwing Town undergo its upgrade. Otherwise, every member of Zero Wing would have to face the million-strong Sacred Sculpture army with nothing but their bare hands.
Moreover, with the mana-infused core magic array, the effects already surpassed those of the magic arrays found in Basic Cities. There was simply no need to take that risk.
In an instant, the volatile mana energy in the hall surged into the core magic array along with the mana that the magic crystals were releasing. From there, the conducted mana flowed outward to every magic array throughout Silverwing Town, causing them to begin mana-infusing one by one.
Three arrays… six arrays… nine arrays…
As Silverwing Town's magic arrays were mana-infused one after another, the mana permeating the entire town underwent a subtle transformation.
When half of Silverwing Town's magic arrays had been mana-infused, a faint layer of red mist materialized in the sky above the town, as if Silverwing Town were being enveloped by this crimson haze.
"Look! The sky above the town is covered in red mist!"
"What on earth is going on? Did Zero Wing do something?"
"Very likely! I can feel the mana throughout the whole town becoming somewhat violent. If we use magic here, its power would definitely increase quite a bit. Fending off the Sacred Sculpture army should be a little easier now."
……
The players in Silverwing Town quickly noticed the change in the town's mana, and discussions broke out among them. Many of the adventuring party members preparing for battle also felt somewhat relieved.
As one of the very few towns in the Beastman Empire open to independent players, many free players had decided to stay and help Zero Wing fight off the Sacred Sculpture army. To encourage this, Zero Wing had even set up a contribution point reward system, which convinced even more independent players to stay and join the battle.
"It seems Guild Master Black Flame had some preparations in place after all." Standing atop Silverwing Town's walls, Huan Yu gazed at the rising wisps of red mist and breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, Crimson Emperor planned to assist Zero Wing with everything they had in defending Silverwing Town, but she didn't feel confident about the outcome. After all, the enemy's numbers were simply too vast, and the weakest among them were Great Lord-tier monsters. At best, all they could do was hold out.
That was right—just hold out!
Repelling millions of Sacred Sculpture creatures was flatly impossible. All they could do was hold out.
Fortunately, the Sacred Sculpture Devourer from before had been eliminated, and the strongest Sacred Sculpture creatures remaining were only High Great Lords. The town's defensive magic arrays could still withstand attacks from High Great Lords without issue. As long as they could allow the defensive magic arrays to replenish before being completely drained by the Sacred Sculpture army's assault, the army would never set foot inside Silverwing Town.
Given the Sacred Sculpture creatures' intelligence, once they saw they couldn't break through after a few days, they would naturally stop their frenzied assault. After all, the Sacred Sculpture creatures weren't mindless beasts—they wouldn't waste too much time on an impossible task.
"This Black Flame actually has some tricks up his sleeve. He managed to make the town's mana go berserk. The entire town's defensive magic arrays should get quite a boost from this."
"Sure, the defensive magic arrays got stronger, but they still need to be able to withstand the Sacred Sculpture Destroyers' frenzied attacks. Don't forget—that Sacred Sculpture army has already destroyed NPC cities. What chance does a guild town stand?"
As for Silverwing Town's mana transformation, the members of the various superpowers hiding within the town dismissed it with contempt. Some even thought Shi Feng was foolish. The defensive magic arrays' effects might have improved, and their tolerance ceiling might have risen, but the energy sustaining the arrays was still finite.
Against the frenzied assault of tens of thousands of Sacred Sculpture Destroyers, how long could the town's stored energy really last?