The streets of White River City bustled with carriages and horses coming and going ceaselessly.
Shi Feng sat in his carriage and could clearly feel the tremendous changes that had come to White River City.
There were far more carriages on the streets now, and the variety had grown as well.
Divine Realm was a game that evolved constantly, and NPC cities changed along with it — they were never static.
An ordinary player might think nothing of more carriages or a wider variety in the city, but Shi Feng, who had played Divine Realm for ten years, knew exactly what it symbolized: the city's level of prosperity.
How was prosperity measured?
The most basic indicator was the carriages on the streets — much like cars in a real-world city.
A small city had few cars, and you'd rarely see anything fancy, but a big city had traffic jams everywhere and luxury vehicles on every corner.
NPC cities in Divine Realm worked the same way.
When the number of players in an NPC city grew, the Main God System would automatically increase the number of carriages to make travel more convenient.
And once the average spending level of players in the city hit a certain threshold, the system would unlock premium carriages. These premium carriages cost more but traveled faster, saving players considerable time — after all, NPC cities were enormous, and it wasn't uncommon to spend hours getting from one place to another.
Right now, only five cities in the entire Star Moon Kingdom had premium carriages, and White River City had the most of any of them. It could already be called the most prosperous city in the Star Moon Kingdom.
But unlocking premium carriages was just one basic feature tied to a city's prosperity. As time went on, the city would unlock various other facilities — like flying mounts or air transport services that could carry players to leveling areas unreachable by teleportation arrays. That saved even more time compared to traveling there on foot, making players feel increasingly comfortable staying in the big city. It shaved hours off their schedules, subtly boosting their leveling speed.
This was one of the main reasons why players in the Empire consistently outleveled those in the Kingdom.
"Now that White River City has unlocked premium carriages, based on their number, it shouldn't be long before luxury carriages are unlocked. One more step and we'll have luxury carriages. Once that happens, players will be able to use the city's airships to reach the Gate of the Eclipse for leveling. I need to start planning early." Shi Feng couldn't help but think back to the Gate of the Eclipse — White River City's most famous leveling zone in his previous life.
In his past life, by the time White River City activated its airship function, most mainstream players in Divine Realm had already reached level 50, and many had advanced to Tier 2 classes.
From that point on, the average player level in White River City entered a period of rapid growth.
That was because White River City's airships could reach the Gate of the Eclipse. Of course, it wasn't just White River City — once the eastern cities of the Star Moon Kingdom unlocked airships, they all had routes to the Gate of the Eclipse.
The Gate of the Eclipse sat at the junction of four great nations: the Star Moon Kingdom, the Rhine Kingdom, the Ice Plains Kingdom, and the East Spring Empire. It was neutral territory, and each nation stationed troops there to prevent the creatures within the Gate from invading Divine Realm. Because of that, high-level quests and military missions there were abundant, and the leveling speed was roughly twice as fast as on other grinding maps. The Gate of the Eclipse was a massive zone spanning levels 40 to 70, filled with rare herbs and ores — essential resources for crafting advanced potions and high-end equipment.
More importantly, the Gate of the Eclipse held energy essence for taming mounts.
Guilds needed various materials to tame mounts, and the higher the quality and quantity of materials, the faster the taming process and the quicker the mount could grow.
Energy essence was one of the premium materials for mount taming.
That was exactly why every player had their eyes set on the Gate of the Eclipse.