Cold Spring Great Forest, Stone Forest City.
Ever since news of the Dark Great World's portal opening had spread throughout Cold Spring Great Forest, all of Stone Forest City had grown tense. Many players had left Stone Forest City one after another, intending to develop elsewhere, leaving the once bustling city strangely deserted.
Even on the main street, which had once been packed with people, more than half of the merchant players were gone. Only Zero Wing's newly opened Free Inn could barely maintain a flow of players, but many of them were experts from major powers, while players from independent adventure groups were few and far between.
When a group of players dressed in black cloaks entered the first-floor lobby of the Free Inn, the entire hall immediately erupted in gasps and discussion.
Among the nearly one hundred players who entered the Free Inn, aside from those in black cloaks, the ones leading them were actually a group of experts from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. At their head was the highly renowned Yuan Tiexin of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, accompanied by a half-elf man in his thirties or forties.
"They're incredible! Who are these people? An elder of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is personally leading them."
"Those people must be big shots who don't want to reveal their identities. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion owns shares in Stone Forest City, and now that players from the Dark Great World have entered Cold Spring Great Forest, Stone Forest City's situation isn't looking good. Maybe the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion invited them here as reinforcements."
"Reinforcements? It's pointless. That's an entire Great World, not something one superpower—or even several superpowers working together—can resist."
The experts from the various major powers present were all filled with curiosity as they discussed the black-cloaked players.