Chapter 2295 – Peak Construction
As he stepped into one of the dilapidated Defensive Magic Towers, s.h.i.+ Feng used the Fortress Management Token he had obtained to call up the four towers’ combined system interface.
Sure enough, repairing the towers will cost a ton. s.h.i.+ Feng was astonished when he saw the repair cost for the four towers.
If he wished to repair all four Defensive Magic Towers, he would have to pay a total of 320,000 Magic Crystals and 120 units of Seven Luminaries Crystals.
Zero Wing could afford the 320,000 Magic Crystals. After all, the Guild had full control of a Manat.i.te vein and an Attributed ore vein. It earned more Magic Crystals than an ordinary superpower. Unfortunately, the Seven Luminaries Crystals weren’t as common.
Although Seven Luminaries Crystals dropped in certain Team Dungeons and maps, the drop-rate was painfully low. Even now, Zero Wing had barely saved up 200 units. He would have to part with more than half of Zero Wing’s stock if he wanted to repair all four Defensive Magic Towers.
In the end, however, s.h.i.+ Feng gritted his teeth and accepted the cost.
Only Medium Fortresses and larger had the privilege of using Defensive Magic Towers, and these towers were not limited to creating a defensive magic array to protect the fortress from invaders. They could also gather and concentrate the fortress’s Mana, as well as act as a teleportation point.
Players couldn’t rely on Return Scrolls or Guild Transfer Scrolls to return to a rest area while in the World Tower. They’d have to rely on their own feet to travel back and forth.
Of course, players could rely on Land or Flying Mounts, but this was a lot more difficult than using a Return Scroll. Players would have to conserve some of their Stamina for the return trip, which limited how long they could grind.
Meanwhile, the Defensive Magic Towers could nullify some of the World Tower’s suppression, and players could connect Return Scrolls to the towers’ teleportation point. This way, players could teleport to the Defensive Magic Towers freely.
Although the Defensive Magic Towers were only effective on their own floor, meaning that players couldn’t teleport to the fortress after descending to the next underground floor, these towers had been immensely popular during s.h.i.+ Feng’s previous life. Every floor in the World Tower was ma.s.sive, and traveling across them was inconvenient.
Because of the Defensive Magic Towers, the World Towers’ Medium Fortresses could make more profit than their smaller counterparts.
Aside from profiting from visiting players, Medium Towers could also earn money from NPCs through the Defensive Magic Towers. These towers significantly increased a fortress’s Defensive Value, and NPC merchants, who disliked risk, would only visit fortresses with a high enough Defensive Value.
Naturally, there was a ma.s.sive difference between player-generated profit and profit earned from NPC merchants.
Although Ancient Coins were Dragonheart City’s only currency, players generally spent Ancient Copper and Ancient Silver. They rarely spent Ancient Gold. This was why Thirteen Thrones had earned much Ancient Gold since capturing a Small Fortress.
However, NPC merchants were a different story. If an NPC merchant rented one of a fortress’s Shops, they’d pay with Ancient Gold. The more NPCs that visited a Fortress, the more Ancient Gold a fortress’s ruling power would earn.
s.h.i.+ Feng desperately needed Ancient Gold. His desire for it had become even greater after defeating the Ancient Fiend ranked Undead King.
Normally, a fortress’s Bosses only dropped average loot. That was clear based on the loot the Mythic ranked Undead General had dropped. Compared to the Bosses’ loot, the fortress itself was the true prize.
Aside from the Fortress Management Toke, the Undead King had dropped an extremely rare item.
The Freedom Hotel Design!
s.h.i.+ Feng had thought he was hallucinated when he had seen the design.
The Freedom Hotel was a Peak Construction in G.o.d’s Domain. Meanwhile, and it was even more valuable than a Fragmented Legendary item. For a Guild City to become a Main City, it needed a Peak Construction; thus, owning the design for one was akin to obtaining a Main City. Furthermore, a Peak Construction’s abilities were out of this world.
If he could construct a Freedom Hotel, he could elevate Stone Forest City into an Intermediate City.
The difference between an Intermediate City and a Basic City in a Level 100-plus map was like the difference between heaven and earth when it came to helping players complete their Tier 3 Promotion Quests.
Of course, building a Peak Construction was extremely difficult. Every required material was exceedingly rare in G.o.d’s Domain, and many of them couldn’t be stored in a player’s bag s.p.a.ce.
The precious Boundary Stone was one such example!
One could only find a Boundary Stone by luck. The only place that sold them was the Black Market, and each stone cost 8,000 Ancient Gold. Meanwhile, constructing the Freedom Hotel required three Boundary Stones, and including the cost of the other materials, the Freedom Hotel’s construction would cost at least 40,000 Ancient Gold…
Moreover, organizing a large-scale mining operation for the Gravity Mountain Ranges’ rare ore veins would be a ma.s.sive Ancient Gold expense.
The ore veins in the World Tower were crawling with monsters, especially at night. Every ore vein in the World Tower was practically a monster nest. Even expert teams
would be annihilated if they weren’t careful.
A small-scale operation wouldn’t be a problem, but to set up a large-scale operation, one would need to construct a mine and defensive structures, both of which cost Ancient Gold.
If s.h.i.+ Feng wanted to develop Zero Wing in the World Tower quickly, he needed Ancient Gold.
Time pa.s.sed quickly. While s.h.i.+ Feng and the others slew the remaining monsters and repaired the fortress’s various buildings, a system announcement reached every player in the map.
Gravity Mountain Range Region System Announcement: Congratulations to the War Blood adventurer team for capturing the Rock Nest Fortress and becoming its lord. Guild Popularity in Dragonheart City increased by 5,000.
The system announcement caused another uproar throughout the Gravity Mountain Range.
“What?! Zero Wing has just captured the Northern Fortress, yet War Blood has already captured the Rock Nest Fortress?”
“War Blood really is vicious. With two fortresses in a single region, Zero Wing won’t be able to generate as much income from the Northern Fortress. To make matters worse, the Rock Nest Fortress occupied the path to the northern region.”
“That’s nothing. War Blood has also allied itself with quite a few of Dragonheart Island’s top 10 adventurer teams. They’re going to work together to seal off the northern region. They’ve declared that anybody who visits the Northern Fortress will be considered one of the adventurer team’s enemies.”
“How vicious! Even with a fortress, Zero Wing has no hope of surviving in Dragonheart City.”
“Zero Wing can only blame itself for provoking so many of the island’s powers.”
The players grinding in the Gravity Mountain Range were astonished by how fast and decisively War Blood had captured the Rock Nest Fortress. They hadn’t expected the adventurer team to strike down Zero Wing as soon as it had some success on Dragonheart Island.
“What should we do, Big Sis Rain?” Blue Phoenix paled when she read the latest report. “Because of War Blood’s declaration, players that had been preparing to visit our fortress are backing out due to fear.”
Maintaining a fortress wasn’t easy. They’d have to station players here long-term to deal with the occasional monster raids. Meanwhile, players were a fortress’s main source of income. If players weren’t willing to visit the Northern Fortress, they’d be lucky not to hemorrhage money on the fortress’s upkeep.
“How did they secure the Rock Nest Fortress so quickly?” Phoenix Rain’s expression darkened when she heard the news. Although she had known that War Blood planned to capture the fortress, she hadn’t thought that it would succeed so soon.
“Why don’t we go teach them a lesson, Guild Leader” Aqua Rose suggested in a chilly tone after reading about War Blood’s threat.
“Forget it. Their fortress is under a 3-day protection period. Attacking them would be meaningless right now,” s.h.i.+ Feng said, shaking his head. Chuckling, he continued, “However, since they want to play, we’ll play. Spread the word that whoever visits the Rock Nest Fortress will be declaring Zero Wing an enemy. None of them will be allowed through the Northern Fortress’s gates!”