Meteorfire City, Main Street.
As Shi Feng walked into the city, the players on the streets had changed noticeably.
Third-tier experts on the streets had increased by roughly ten to twenty percent compared to before—a significant shift. If a single street had that many more, the other streets were likely seeing similar numbers. That meant the entire city had gained around ten percent more third-tier experts overall.
Ten percent more third-tier experts meant tens of thousands of additional ones. That number alone probably exceeded the combined third-tier forces of the five great super guilds…
The atmosphere in the city had also shifted palpably.
Yes—there was an air of tension and excitement.
But before Shi Feng had walked even a few minutes, voices drifted out from an open-air roadside tavern, where a group of third-tier players were chatting.
"Damn it! I applied to join a party and got rejected. I'm a level 131 third-tier Ranger. Everywhere I've gone before—adventuring parties, guilds—they were overjoyed to have me. This Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party is way too arrogant!" A dark, burly young man spat, visibly irritated.
Beside him, a level 132 middle-aged man with a round shield on his back shook his head with a smile. "That's nothing. The Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party rejects seven or eight hundred third-tier applicants every day. Less than a tenth of those who apply actually get in, and it's only getting stricter."
"That's right. The Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party isn't what it used to be. They've got four fourth-tier experts now, and from what leaked, those two advanced to the fourth tier thanks to Soul Crystals and Soul Water. I heard the party still has a large stock of both." A level 131 third-tier Assassin chimed in with a nod.
"I heard one of them used Soul Water for the advancement," the level 132 middle-aged man added slowly. "Soul Crystals are incredibly rare, but Soul Water is abundant—even ordinary party members can get a drop. Right now, people who want to join and get a Soul Crystal to advance to the fourth tier could probably line up from one end of the city to the other. And third-tier experts from neighboring cities who've heard the news are probably still flooding in. There's only going to be more applicants down the road."
"If I'd known it would be like this, I should've joined the Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party early on. Even without a Soul Crystal, just getting a drop of Soul Water might've been enough for me to break through to the fourth tier. I'd be calling the shots in the commoner district." The level 131 Assassin sighed.
Now the Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party had raised its entry requirements. Ordinary third-tier experts couldn't get in—you needed to be at least half-step into the realm of subtlety, or have reached entry level in the Realm of Reason.
"So the Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party has improved quite a bit during this time," Shi Feng murmured. He wasn't particularly surprised.
After all, the party had a massive pool of top-tier experts, and since they had long made the Divine Realm their entire lives, their combat level was far beyond what ordinary players on the continent could match.
If not for the fact that the ancient Divine Realm lacked methods for restoring mental energy, fourth-tier professionals would have been several times more numerous. The advancement environment for the fourth tier here was simply far superior.
Shi Feng lingered and caught a few more conversations about the Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party and the current state of Meteorfire City. He came away with a rough picture of the party's situation and direction. Clearly, the Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party was preparing to expand into other NPC cities—they were still in the recruitment phase, and once they had enough third-tier experts, they would almost certainly push into the surrounding NPC cities.
The player factions in those neighboring cities would have a hard time putting up resistance.
For Shi Feng, this was nothing but good news. The stronger the Heavenly Flame Adventuring Party became, the better they could help him secure all kinds of resources.
After a few more minutes of listening, Shi Feng headed directly toward the meeting point—the Silver Inn.
Silver Inn, premium suite.
When Shi Feng opened the door, he found Jing Wuming and the others had been waiting for some time. Of the five, some looked elated and others dejected. Three of them—Jing Wuming, Gu Jiuji, and Yu Luo—had undergone an unmistakable qualitative transformation in their presence. Without their black cloaks, and with no effort to conceal it, their fourth-tier life force radiated openly, incomparably beyond what any third-tier professional could exude.
"Guild Master, we let you down."
Yan Ya looked at Shi Feng as he walked in, her mood deflated. Mu Xiaoxiao hadn't said a word for a long time either, clearly unwilling to accept her failure to reach the fourth tier.
"There's no need to be discouraged," Shi Feng reassured them. "Advancing to the fourth tier was never easy. Out of a thousand third-tier professionals, you'd be lucky to see even one succeed—especially on a first fourth-tier class advancement. Even top-tier experts fail at a high rate, let alone where you are now. What you need to do is remember the reasons for this failure. Next time you attempt the fourth-tier advancement, your success rate will be much higher. You should also know by now where your weaknesses lie. Spend this time finding ways to make up for them, and I'm confident that before long, you'll be able to advance."
He hadn't been particularly surprised by Yan Ya and Mu Xiaoxiao's failures. He wouldn't have been surprised if even Jing Wuming and Gu Jiuji had failed, either.
Advancing to the fourth tier truly wasn't easy. It had relatively little to do with a player's combat level or technical skill—it was almost entirely about comprehension of fourth-tier magic skills. The gap between fourth-tier and third-tier magic was enormous, and achieving eighty percent completion in such a short time was an extremely high bar.
The reason he had succeeded on his first attempt was largely because he had already been through many class advancements before. He had developed a degree of comprehension of fourth-tier magic skills. Yan Ya and Mu Xiaoxiao had no such experience—failing on the first try was perfectly normal.