Chapter 560

【 FOUNDING A CITY 】

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The news that the Big Major Four Guilds and the Three-Guild Alliance had decided to build cities quickly spread among players following the official release of the City-Building System.

In no time, the topic of “Founding New Cities” overtook previous discussions about the Desert Campaign and the Northern Elven Forest, becoming the most talked-about subject among players.

The seven moved swiftly, and as soon as each guildmaster and alliance head received their City-Building permit, they immediately mobilized their guild or alliance members into action.

Almost overnight, the once bustling and overcrowded Chosen City became noticeably quieter.

Looking at the game’s map from a top-down perspective revealed large numbers of players swarming toward the seven newly designated building sites announced by the developers…

Among them were also 200,000 newcomers from the second public-beta.

For these new players, their top priority was to level up as quickly as possible, and the various daily city-building tasks being offered by each guild proved to be the most efficient, safe, and reliable way to grind experience, earn resources, and integrate into the game’s evolving player economy.

Compared to Chosen City wherein the sheer number of players often led to long queues just to accept a single task, the seven newly designated sites offered a much-needed alternative over the coming weeks.

As a result, the pressure to compete for task had eased considerably.

Moreover, some sharp-minded new players quickly realized the potential hidden in this opportunity.

As time passed, the playerbase of Elven Kingdom was bound to keep growing.

From the current hundreds of thousands, it would likely surpass a million, and perhaps even reach the tens of millions in the future…

And its track record had already demonstrated that Elven Kingdom mirrored the real world in several important ways.

Therefore, when it came to major events, the earlier a player joined, the greater the rewards they could potentially earn, both in terms of resources and status within the game.

This city-building event was a prime example of that principle in action.

Just look at Chosen City as a case study.

Those early founders who helped build it from the ground up now enjoy tremendous in-game wealth and influence, largely because they secured ownership of valuable real estate from the very beginning—assets that have only increased in value over time.

In fact, if game accounts were tradable, each of them could probably sell theirs for astronomical prices.

Alas, Chosen City in its current state was already massive and well-established, so even if newcomers continued contributing to its expansion, they could never match the influence and status of those early veterans who laid its foundations.

But these seven new cities were a different story.

They represented fresh opportunities.

Sure, most of the city lords would still be veteran players, but while the veterans enjoyed the prime rewards, the newcomers could still benefit from the leftovers.

At the very least, once these new cities eventually grew into bustling metropolises, those involved now would still be recognized as its founding members.

The many new players who decided to partake in the city-building efforts were thinking along those lines.

That’s why, once the major guilds and three alliances started openly recruiting for their city-building projects, the people in Chosen City quickly began to dwindle.

At least no less than two-thirds of the city’s active players responded to the call and spread out across the seven designated city-building zones.

Evé noticed this as well, but she wasn’t particularly concerned that the emergence of these new cities would diminish the importance of Chosen City. As Elven Kingdom’s sole starting spawn point, Chosen City would always remain the central hub of the game, regardless of how many new cities were built.

Furthermore, the transportation networks of any future cities would inevitably be centered around it.

So even if things in Chosen City seemed much quieter now, it was only because the players were riding the initial wave of hype and excitement around building these new cities.

But that excitement, like all things, would inevitably fade over time.

Not all players participating in the construction of these new cities would ultimately choose to settle there, and odds are, a significant portion would likely return in the end.

In other words, as the player base expanded and a sense of structure began to take shape in the background, Chosen City would effectively become the de facto “capital” of Elven Kingdom.

By contrast, the once-glorious Holy City of Florence had become increasingly marginalized, with now mostly serves as a place for players to grind favorability with NPCs or complete personal quests.

Anyway, back to the present.

As the seven groups began their respective city-building endeavors, the differences among them gradually became apparent.

Most notably, the contrast between the four major guilds and the three guild alliances became evident.

Unlike the increasingly well-structured and tightly managed major guilds, the guild alliances were made up of largely loose coalitions. Although their membership numbers were comparable, their organizational strength and internal cohesion were significantly weaker.

And here in Elven Kingdom, strong organization and unity directly translate into operational efficiency and faster progress.

Consequently, despite the three alliances selecting sites closer to the central zone of the Elven Forest, their overall progress lagged noticeably behind.

Even the initial tasks, such as stockpiling and managing resources, proved to be a major challenge for some of these alliances, causing delays and frustration.

The All-Star Alliance managed to perform somewhat better in this regard, showing more stability and progress compared to the other two alliances.

However, the Long Live the Goddess alliance, which was composed of dozens of small to mid-sized guilds, was truly struggling to keep things together. With so many guilds involved and no clear dominant leader to guide their efforts, coordination quickly became a nightmare.

That being said, despite their lower efficiency, they still had several advantages working in their favor. Their founders were first-beta veterans with prior experience in the construction of Chosen City. They also received partial support from Moe Moe’s construction teams and had access to a sizable labor force, primarily made up of second-beta players. As a result, while their pace was slower, their overall progress remained commendable.

Interestingly, their proximity to Chosen City made them a more attractive option for newcomers.

Because the areas they selected were relatively secure, they didn’t need to prioritize constructing city walls and could instead dedicate their efforts fully to urban development.

By contrast, the newbies had a much harder time reaching the four major guilds’ construction sites, since they had chosen more remote locations.

Heart of Nature’s chosen site, which was situated near the eastern border, was one of the easiest to reach among them, but First Legion, which was located in the far northern zone of Elven Forest, was the least frequented by newcomers.

Of course, the major guilds didn’t choose their city sites with new players in mind as their main priorities lay in long-term development.

Even while facing such greater challenges, each of them showcased their guild’s deep resources and capabilities, which impressed many people.

Take Heart of Nature, for example:

They mobilized the thousands of Orc laborers they had captured and even received support from various dark-dwarf merchants from the Underground.

After selecting the exact spot to lay the foundation of their city in the eastern Vymur river bay, they quickly began full-scale construction.

Interestingly enough, the blueprint for their new city wasn’t designed by players but by a seasoned half-elf architect from Ouros.

By demonstrating such effective diplomacy and strong ties with multiple races, Heart of Nature once again affirmed their reputation as the guild held in the highest regard by NPCs across the game.

Even with the infamous troublemaker Demacia among their ranks, Li Mu’s guild still held a reputation that far surpassed all the others.

Correspondingly, First Legion, which often fought in the wild and had fewer dealings with NPCs, did not have as many helpers. Nevertheless, due to their vast field experience, nearly every member of theirs possessed one or two magical beast familiars.

Moreover, because they often grind in the high-danger level zones in the north, their familiars were much stronger and more intelligent than average, making them ideal assistants for construction tasks.

As a result, First Legion members found it practical to deploy these capable familiars to support their city-building efforts.

Although their progress still couldn’t match that of Heart of Nature, it was far from slow.

Meanwhile, Scourge Knights stood out as the guild that attracted the highest number of new players among the Big Four.

This was primarily due to their Guildmaster, Ji Gang, who had selected the northwestern region of the Elven Forest for their city, which was a secure and resource-abundant site that offered both safety and ease of travel.

But the most striking and unquestionably talked-about event during this time came from Moe Moe Committee, who chose a location in the Dark Mountains to build their city.

To everyone’s astonishment and disbelief, right on the very first day of construction…

—they blew up an entire mountain.

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