The information Liang Jing had provided was quite detailed. Beyond the fact that the Extreme Ice Canyon backed onto the Sea of Extreme Ice with the entrance to the World Summit on the other side, the most critical detail was the canyon itself.
Setting aside the fact that the Extreme Ice Canyon was currently a region that no major superpower could freely enter, the mere possibility of Tier 4 Legacy Lands appearing within it was enough to drive countless Tier 3 players into a frenzy.
After all, these Legacy Lands could be reached via direct teleportation to their maps. The travel time saved was unimaginable, and that wasn't even accounting for the fact that players couldn't linger in these neutral maps for long periods.
After finishing the materials, everyone present could already imagine that once Zero Wing City opened, it would be nothing short of a shocking event that would shake the entire Divine Realm — and becoming the number one city in the Divine Realm would be the least of it.
At that moment, not only the Zero Wing members present, even Shen Ying, the vice commander of Sky Blade, felt his eyes burn with intensity.
The fourth basement level of the World Tower was indeed an excellent place to search for Legacy Lands, but compared to the Extreme Ice Canyon, it was clearly a tier below.
Fortresses and cities simply couldn't be compared. It wasn't just a matter of how many people each could accommodate — the bigger reason was that cities served as genuine rest hubs, capable of meeting all of a player's daily needs. Something as simple as market trading and the Auction House was a function that fortresses lacked, yet it was exactly what players needed most.
After finishing the information, Fire Dance looked toward Shi Feng and asked, "So, Guild Leader, you mean we shouldn't open Zero Wing City to the public just yet — instead, we let our own people enjoy the benefits first?"
Everyone present turned their gazes toward Shi Feng.
The entire purpose of this meeting was to discuss the development of Zero Wing City. The best approach to development would naturally be a full public opening — just the entrance fees alone would bring in staggering revenue, not to mention shop rents and other fees inside Zero Wing City. It was easy to foresee that Zero Wing City would become the number one city in the Divine Realm, even more bustling than an empire's capital, drawing countless Tier 3 powerhouses to gather there.
That kind of development was unquestionably the fastest path.
But if that were the case, there would have been no reason for Shi Feng to gather them all here in the first place. He could have just opened it to the public.
"Exactly," Shi Feng nodded. "With such a huge advantage in Zero Wing City, we should naturally make the most of it — let ourselves grow stronger first, and then open it up completely. You all should understand just how much a guild city costs to maintain, let alone a guild's main city."
A normal guild main city required hiring thirty thousand NPCs alone, a cost that could bankrupt several top-tier guilds. And he had added the Twelve Demon World Arrays on top of that, which dramatically increased the demand for Magic Crystals.
Because of that, the original plan — which had only called for a few thousand core guild members to enter Zero Wing City and level up first — had to be abandoned outright. A mere few thousand people simply couldn't sustain a guild main city.
"Then why not let all guild members enter freely, but charge them a fee?" Fei Ying suggested. "After all, without fully opening a guild main city, it's nothing but a money pit."
"That won't work," Hei Zi shook his head from the side. "Right now, an enormous number of people are joining Zero Wing. If we let members of other forces who just want to exploit Zero Wing City's advantages slip in by pretending to join the guild, we'll take a massive loss. This is supposed to be a perk for our Zero Wing members."
Everyone present nodded in agreement.
The Mobile Fortress alone had already attracted the attention of numerous forces, with some even encouraging their guild members to leave and join Zero Wing to gain access to the Mobile Fortress and the Tower of Secrets.
To counter this, Fire Dance had specifically established rules for entering the Mobile Fortress — only core guild members were allowed in. New recruits who wanted to become core members needed not only the strength but also a month or two of time before they qualified. That had been enough to make the major forces abandon the scheme.
Still, that hadn't stopped various adventure teams from continuously joining Zero Wing. Their goal was the training environment inside the Mobile Fortress — they were using the guild purely for their own gain, and once they had achieved their objectives, they could leave at any moment.
Not that Zero Wing really minded. After all, if those adventure team members wanted to reap the benefits, they would have to pay the price and put in the effort.
You Lan offered a suggestion, "Then why not follow the Mobile Fortress's precedent and only allow core members in?"
"I'm afraid the numbers still wouldn't be nearly enough…" Liang Jing shook her head and spoke slowly. "A rough estimate suggests that keeping Zero Wing City running normally would require around eighty thousand people, and that's counting the entrance fee at one Magic Crystal per person."
The Twelve Demon World Arrays alone consumed forty thousand Magic Crystals per day to operate. Add in the Magic Crystals needed for the city's own magic arrays and various buildings, and eighty thousand Magic Crystals per day was the bare minimum — and that was before accounting for the thirty thousand Tier 3 NPC guards they would need to recruit later.
"Is it really that much?" You Lan was slightly taken aback.
A consumption of eighty thousand Magic Crystals per day would force even the superpowers to tighten their belts. Magic Crystals were already consumed in large quantities for everyday use, and after covering all their expenses, the amount any major superpower could set aside each day was hardly generous.