Feng Qianyu's voice wasn't loud, but Qing Huang was so stunned she froze on the spot.
An Epic-grade weapon!
In the current Divine Realm, such a thing was absolutely on par with a divine artifact. Even the Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion had only managed to acquire a single Epic-grade item so far, and it wasn't even a weapon—it was a cloth armor glove.
This Epic-grade cloth glove had caused endless arguments between the Phoenix Pavilion and the Dragon Pavilion, with both sides wanting to claim it for themselves. In the end, the Grand Master had given it to Qianyu.
That decision had sent the Dragon Pavilion's Nine Dragon Emperor into a fury.
But there was nothing he could do about it. He wasn't a magic-oriented class, while Feng Qianyu was an Elementalist, and that Epic-grade glove was perfectly suited for an Elementalist. To maximize overall benefit, it naturally went to Feng Qianyu.
The power of an Epic-grade item went without saying.
Just from looking at the stats, Qing Huang could tell that Dark Gold-grade equipment fell far short in comparison. On top of that, Epic-grade equipment provided boosts to basic attributes—around 10% to 15%. It might not sound like much, but for top-tier players whose main attributes already exceeded 500, a 10% boost was no small number. And that was before factoring in the powerful skills embedded within, which could raise overall combat power by twenty to thirty percent.
A single Epic-grade item already had that kind of effect. How much would an Epic-grade weapon amplify things?
Just thinking about it sent a chill down Qing Huang's spine.
The fact that Shi Feng had shattered an ice wall with a single strike said it all.
And yet, that only made Qing Huang even more baffled. The Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion had struggled to get their hands on one piece of Epic-grade equipment, so how on earth had a tiny guild like Zero Wing obtained an Epic-grade weapon?
"It seems Zero Wing is far more than what we've been seeing on the surface," Feng Qianyu said after a moment of contemplation, her tone grave. "Whether it's the Star River Alliance or the Seven Deadly Flowers, there were reasons they lost to Zero Wing. From now on, have people keep a closer eye on the Zero Wing guild. I have a feeling there's something very strange about this Black Flame."
"Understood. I'll have the intelligence department begin a full re-investigation of Zero Wing immediately." This was only the third time Qing Huang had seen Qianyu wear such a serious expression. In her heart, she felt Qianyu was giving Zero Wing far too much credit.
The Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion was a top-tier guild. Even if Zero Wing had risen quickly, surpassing the threshold of a first-rate guild was still at least a decade away.
Virtual online games had been developing for centuries. Throughout that history, quite a few up-and-coming guilds had shot to first-rate status within a single game. But to date, not a single new guild had vaulted all the way to a level beyond first-rate.
Even the current super guilds had followed that trajectory. Let alone Zero Wing, which had no backing whatsoever.
……
The main arena of the underground colosseum was now packed to the brim.
The underground colosseum featured two types of combat. The first was the system's default ranked matches, divided into Normal, Advanced, and Elite divisions. The second was the unlimited free-for-all, where players could book the arena.
In an unlimited match, players didn't need any prior standing in the underground colosseum—they could challenge Elite-tier experts to their heart's content. However, the size and specifications of the arena varied, and so did the fees.
A Normal arena could hold more people than a ranked match venue—roughly 500 spectators. Booking it for a day cost three gold coins, and players could fight as many rounds as they wanted with no restrictions.
Next came the Advanced arena, which could hold three thousand spectators. A day's booking cost ten gold coins.
The Elite arena could accommodate twenty thousand people, and booking it for a day cost a hundred gold coins—even large guilds didn't dare rent it on a whim.
Above the Elite arena was the Main arena. Its capacity depended on the city's rank. A royal capital could seat roughly fifty thousand. An imperial capital's underground colosseum could hold seventy to eighty thousand spectators. In the four great empires, the number was even higher—around a hundred thousand.
Besides the vastly greater seating capacity, the biggest difference was the size of the combat stage. A Normal arena could only host one-on-one fights.