Miniature Ancient World, Tide City, Tower Alliance’s Residence:

The Tower Alliance’s Residence occupied an area of two sports stadiums. In the large city that housed over a hundred million players, the Residence was a unique existence. As for the Guild members and independent players that walked in and out of the Residence, many of them had reached the standard of peak experts. Even after the Myriad Worlds’ Descent expansion pack took effect and powers from the many God’s Domains entered the Miniature Ancient World, many independent experts were still seeking to join the Tower Alliance.

“The Abyssal Star Primordial City that’s under Zero Wing’s control has been upgraded into a Basic City already, Great Elder Favra. Combined with its ability to facilitate teleportation to NPC Cities, it will definitely become a densely populated large city in the future,” the Demidragon woman Maria said excitedly as she looked at Favra, the young-looking lady sitting at the center of the conference table while quietly reading the document in her hands. “I suggest we establish a trade center in Abyssal Star City as soon as possible. That way, the Tower Alliance will have an even greater advantage in the Miniature Ancient World!”

“Although we still can’t access Level 120-plus maps, I agree that we should deepen our partnership with Zero Wing,” Vice Guild Leader Flanders said in agreement.

Abyssal Star City was a Guild City that bordered the Boundary Mountain Range. On top of that, it even had a Teleportation Hall that allowed players to teleport to Hundred Flow City, an NPC City. It wasn’t hard to imagine that Abyssal Star City would become a transit hub or base of operations for the many God’s Domains’ players in the future. At that time, the city’s popularity would exceed every one of the current NPC Cities. As icing on the cake, Zero Wing was also a Guild with extraordinary potential. Hence, nothing could go wrong with furthering the Tower Alliance’s partnership with Zero Wing.

“We can indeed carry out further cooperation with Zero Wing, but establishing a trade center in Abyssal Star City will require more consideration. You two should know that the establishment of a trade center is of utmost importance. Zero Wing’s Abyssal Star City might be considered the number one Guild City in the current Miniature Ancient World, but that might not necessarily be the case once Level 120-plus maps open up, and the myriad worlds’ powers begin developing their own settlements,” Favra, the young-looking lady, said, shaking her head. “Our Desolate Star Corporation only has a limited number of trade center slots. Wasting even one slot will incur us severe losses.”

Trade centers!

This might be a term foreign to players from isolated God’s Domains, but it was one of the main methods for the various God’s Domain powers to generate income in the Greater World. A trade center was a special shop that allowed players to conduct transactions using real-world currency directly.

Unlike offline transactions made to trade in-game resources for real-world currencies, transactions made through the trade center were absolutely confidential. Players wouldn’t have to worry about exposing their identities when trading through a trade center. Hence, so long as the option was available, players in God’s Domain would always choose to trade through a trade center, even if they had to pay a slightly higher processing fee.

Because of this, almost every prosperous Guild City would have a trade center. Moreover, so long as a Guild City could maintain a stable player population of 100 million, the annual income the city could generate through the trade center alone could rival 15% of a Greater God’s Domain’s hegemonic power’s annual income.

Of course, increasing a Guild City’s player population to 100 million was easier said than done. Even hegemonic powers in the Greater God’s Domain would only have a few of such Guild Cities under their control. After all, all players sought to grow stronger, and to do so required them to transition to better maps at some point. Unless a Guild City was established in a strategically important location, it’d be very difficult for it to thrive for very long.

This was also one of the main reasons the many God’s Domains’ various powers had come to the Miniature Ancient World to develop.

The Miniature Ancient World was one of the few unexplored lands in the Greater God’s Domain. After factoring in the Miniature Ancient World’s massive player population, developing a Guild City with over 100 million player population wouldn’t be difficult. In fact, developing one or two Mega Guild Cities with a player population of over 500 million wasn’t even out of the question.

Meanwhile, aside from Abyssal Star City, the Desolate Star Corporation had many other options to establish its trade center. After all, while the Desolate Star Corporation might only be a subpar conglomerate in the Greater World, it was still the majority shareholder of over a dozen hegemonic powers. The Tower Alliance wasn’t the only hegemonic power the conglomerate owned shares in.

“What if I exercise my right as the sixth successor?” Maria asked, reluctant to give up even after hearing Favra objecting to her suggestion.

“Have you lost your mind, Maria?!” Favra yelled as she looked at her niece in astonishment. “Every successor only has one trade center slot! It is also your only capital to develop in the Greater World! You’ll lose your qualifications as a successor if you mismanage this slot!”

Life in the Greater World was incredibly harsh. Hence, competition between the successors of a conglomerate was extraordinarily intense. Depending on how a successor handled the competition, they could end up living even worse than the average civilian for the rest of their lives.

Favra had high hopes for Maria. Not only did this niece of hers have great talent, but the girl had also managed to become a vice commander in one of the Tower Alliance’s frontline teams at such a young age. At this rate, it probably wouldn’t take more than a year for her to rise to the position of commander of a frontline team. Then, maybe in another two or three years, she might be able to join the Tower Alliance’s main force and become a vice commander there. At that time, Maria would have considerable authority in the Tower Alliance, and she’d be able to cultivate a group of trusted aides to help her in competing for the position of family head in the Desolate Star Corporation.

Meanwhile, Maria’s trade center slot would be her only source of income in the future. It would also become the capital for her to develop her cronies. After all, developing talents required a large amount of resources.

Hence, investing this precious slot in a small and developing Guild like Zero Wing was insane.

“I know, which is why I want to invest it in Abyssal Star City,” Maria said resolutely.

Unlike her aunt, Maria did not think her decision to invest her only trade center slot in Abyssal Star City was rash or crazy. This was because she knew about Zero Wing’s foundations. With the support of the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s players, there’d be no worry that Abyssal Star City couldn’t prosper.

“Fine. I’ll go and take a look at Abyssal Star City with you,” Favra said, sighing. “If I see that the city does have a good future ahead of it, I won’t stop you.”

“Thank you, Aunty,” Maria said with a fawning smile.

…

While the meeting at the Tower Alliance was taking place, the myriad God’s Domains’ various powers also began sending people to Hundred Flow City in wait for Abyssal Star City’s opening. This was so they could investigate Abyssal Star City and determine whether it was worth investing in.

Subsequently, time passed by quickly. After six hours passed, the barrier enveloping Abyssal Star City vanished, revealing a magnificent city that occupied an area several times larger than before. The sight of this city filled the players waiting nearby with awe and shock.

…

Inside Abyssal Star City…

“So, this is the new Abyssal Star City?”

Su Qianliu and the others couldn’t help but be astonished by the sight they saw after entering the upgraded Abyssal Star City. Although they hadn’t started exploring the city yet, they could already tell that the city was extraordinary.

If speaking purely in terms of size, Abyssal Star City was already comparable to a small NPC City. Now, the revenue Abyssal Star City could generate through entrance fees alone would most likely surpass the total income a power could earn through occupying a small NPC City.

Aside from size, the density of Abyssal Star City’s mana had also increased by a significant margin, so much so that the city’s mana environment could already rival the Stratified Abyssal Realm’s mana environment. This also meant that Abyssal Star City’s mana environment far surpassed that of the Miniature Ancient World’s various NPC Cities.

However, what surprised Su Qianliu and the others the most would still have to be the city’s improved purification effect. Originally, Abyssal Star City’s ability to purify the corrosive mysterious energies was already very amazing. However, after the upgrade, the city’s purification effect had transcended to an entirely different level. Even if a player’s body was fully saturated with mysterious energies, it would only take them two or three hours of rest in the current Abyssal Star City to clear out everything. The purification rate had more than doubled compared to before. This would give players more time to spend out in the fields.

While Su Qianliu and the others were awed by Abyssal Star City’s changes, Shi Feng had set his sights on the heart of the city—the Primordial Tower.

The second floor is finally open! A flash of excitement appeared in Shi Feng’s eyes when he saw the system notification before him.

…

System: Abyssal Star City has been upgraded into a Basic City successfully. The Primordial Tower’s second floor is now open.