Tianyun City, under the leadership of Lord Ryan Sky, has been established for thirty-four years. It's a prosperous territory with four cities, boasting a permanent population of nearly one million and an average daily active Adventurer count in the tens of thousands!
As the adventuring time ended, several of the Lord's assistants walked into the resplendent and palatial Territory Lord's Mansion to report to the Lord, as was customary.
Today's daily report covered all aspects of the territory, including progress in diplomatic negotiations with local forces, the latest movements of Dark Kind forces, trade cooperation with other Underground Cities, and the operational status of the four territory Secret Realms.
"Today, the territory received 31,294 Adventurers, which is a 0.7% decrease compared to the day before..."
Tianyun City's traffic has been declining for three consecutive days. Although the data shows a very small decrease, within the normal fluctuation range, it still caught the attention of Lord Sky, who immediately traced the data to understand the more specific situation.
"The largest loss of Adventurers is actually in Black Stone Town?"
"And several Black Stone Town Adventurers have terminated their contracts with Tianyun City..."
This small fluctuation shouldn't cause an impact. After all, Tianyun City is a large and prosperous entity. However, it's not quite normal!
The first Adventurer town opened by Tianyun City was Black Stone Town, which has a very close connection with the local Adventurer community and is known as the largest and most successfully operated Underground City in Black Stone Town over the past fifty years.
Nowadays, although Black Stone Town is the smallest in scale, it is the place with the greatest influence and stability for Tianyun City. Over the years, Adventurers in this town have taken pride in becoming contracted Adventurers of Tianyun City. Each spot has dozens or even hundreds of people competing for it. The contracted Adventurers are stable, and their loyalty is quite high; there is almost no turnover.
"Lord, the reason has been found!"
"Recently, an Underground City in Black Stone Town named Miracle City has been exceptionally popular. The decline in our territory's traffic may be directly related to this new Underground City."
Another rising new city?
Although Black Stone Town is not large in scale, the number of new Underground Cities added each year is considerable. While most Underground Cities cannot operate for more than a few months, there are always new Lords emerging from time to time.
Perhaps due to outstanding talent, perhaps skilled at promotion, perhaps the Underground City's location is excellent, the resources are superb, or it exploded in popularity for other reasons.
As a veteran Lord with nearly thirty-five years of experience, Ryan Sky has long been accustomed to such sights. Even if a new Underground City can be popular for a while, nine times out of ten it will still close down. The strong survive while the weak are eliminated. The incompetent will definitely be eliminated. Less than one in a hundred territories remain evergreen!
Being a Lord is a high-risk profession. It's not something just anyone can do. Only Underground Cities that can truly create high-quality Secret Realms are qualified to survive!
The quality of Tianyun City's Secret Realms is recognized as the best in Black Stone Town, so Ryan Sky didn't pay too much attention to Miracle City. However, to understand the specific situation, he still opened the Lord panel and glanced at the Black Stone Town Adventurer forum, and was immediately shocked by what he saw.
Five out of the top ten hot posts were related to Miracle City. The title of the top post was: "Shocking! The Number One Adventurer Returns! White Crane Hermit Announces Contract with Miracle City!"
"Old man White Crane... ran off to Miracle City too?!"
Ryan Sky and White Crane Hermit are old acquaintances. Since retiring, this old fellow has caused quite a bit of trouble, repeatedly cracking the latest Secret Realm designs of Tianyun City and causing Ryan Sky considerable losses.
Of course, White Crane Hermit is also optimistic about the development of Tianyun City. Most of his best students have contracted with Tianyun City, thus stepping into a wider world, and most of them are doing well now.
As for White Crane Hermit? Ryan Sky's repeated invitations were politely declined. He thought he planned to rot away in Black Stone Town, but unexpectedly, he suddenly emerged and joined an Underground City he had never heard of. Miracle City. There's a big problem!
Ryan Sky started scrolling through the posts. He saw that each title was more exaggerated than the last:
"Miracle City's Masterpiece 'Doomsday Frenzy' is Destined to Become the Strongest Secret Realm in Black Stone Town's History!"
"Exclusive Analysis of the Second Level Design of the 'Doomsday Frenzy Secret Realm' - This is the Most Exciting Secret Realm I've Ever Seen, and the Most Perfect Work of Art I've Ever Seen!"
"Zombie-Type Monsters! Unique to Miracle City! The Genius Lord Jack's Self-Created Monster System!"
"Gone Crazy! Miracle City Soul Essence Prices Have Skyrocketed to 3 Times the Average Price of Soul Essence of the Same Quality!"
"Huge Boom! The Queue for Miracle City Tomorrow Might Reach Four to Five Thousand People!"
"50,000 Words of Hard Work! Big Speculation on the Background of the End of the World Tide!"
"With Old Dean White Crane's Personal Endorsement! Miracle City is Bound to Shake Tianyun City's King Status!"
Ryan Sky had seen many new territories that were popular for a while, but he had never seen a scene like this. Almost every post on the Adventurer forum was heavily praising Miracle City. When had such a scene ever appeared before? This is the first time in so many years!
Has Black Stone Town truly welcomed a genius? If so, Tianyun City must prepare early!
There is clearly a competitive relationship between Lords and between Underground Cities, but most of the time this competition does not unfold in a life-and-death manner. Unless their territories directly border each other, the competition between Human Clan Lords is more like a contest between two commercial companies, with the main goal being the competition for Adventurer resources.
Competing with Secret Realm creations is the most direct form of competition. After all, Adventurers vote with their feet.
Of course, it's not excluded that some Dungeon Lords might use underhanded tactics to suppress newcomers in order to acquire more Adventurer resources. But in reality, because territories do not directly border each other, Human Clan Lords usually cannot pose a direct threat to each other, so the competition process is mostly relatively less bloody.
Ryan Sky is an experienced Lord. He competes when he should and cooperates when he should. The urgent matter is to figure out what Miracle City is really like.
Half an hour later, he summoned the leaders or representatives of the four major Adventurer groups to the Territory Lord's Mansion. Ryan Sky informed everyone present about the situation with Miracle City and the potential competitive threat.
"What's so noteworthy about a new Underground City? Even if it attracts traffic, how many people can it take away?"
"That's true!"
"After all, Black Stone Town is just a small place."
"Although Black Stone Town is not large in scale, it is one of Tianyun City's basic foundations, and it must be stabilized no matter what."
"Bella, what do you say?"
The leaders or representatives of the three major Adventurer groups all focused their gaze on a young female Adventurer. This Adventurer, with the codename "Bella," appeared to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, with outstanding looks, a slender waist and long legs, a stunning beauty full of captivating charm.
The reason the three leaders looked at Bella was because among the four major Adventurer group leaders of Tianyun City, only Bella was from Black Stone Town.
"This old lady was just about to go settle accounts!"
Bella seemed quite angry. "That useless silly kid from my family was abducted by Miracle City!"
Ryan Sky said, "Miracle City is not simple. Don't underestimate this Underground City, after all, even White Crane Hermit is standing on their side now."
"That's right!"
"This White Crane Hermit..."
"If I remember correctly, he should be your number one Adventurer in Black Stone Town, right?"
Bella, however, was very disdainful: "What number one Adventurer? That's ancient history from how many years ago. This old lady never thought herself inferior in the slightest compared to him; it was just giving him some face because he's old!"
"Regardless, before we figure out their true strength, we cannot rashly initiate suppression or make enemies with them."
The Tianyun Territory Lord was very calm. And confident enough in himself. He firmly believed that the Secret Realms created by Tianyun City, at least in a place like Black Stone Town, would absolutely not lose to any other territory, so he was completely fearless of competition.
Although the rise of Miracle City might bring a threat, Human Clan Lords are not incapable of cooperation or even subjugation.
Ryan Sky continued, "It's very difficult to enter Miracle City now. Why not send a few people to queue up first and find a way to get in and investigate thoroughly."
Bella: "Alright, leave it to me. Within three days, I'll investigate everything clearly!"
There are many Underground Cities in Black Stone Town. Tianyun City is just the largest one among them. Miracle City has been so prominent recently, naturally, the forces interested in it at this moment are not limited to just Tianyun City.
What troubles the various forces is that Miracle City is simply too popular. This results in an extremely low chance of getting in by queuing. They can only pace around anxiously outside like headless flies!
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