The baronial powers that Shuise Qiangwei knew about included the ability to purchase a private territory in White River City, as well as having one's own private guards. As a baron, one could recruit up to 10 NPC guards to protect the private territory.
But a baron was merely the lowest rank of nobility.
Only upon being promoted to viscount could one be considered a great noble of a city.
Not only could one purchase private territory, but the number of private guards one could recruit was as high as forty-eight, plus two direct guard slots.
Direct guards were a privilege that only great noble families possessed.
Direct guards were different from private guards. Recruited private guards could not grow stronger, but direct guards could. In other words, no matter how many levels an NPC had when recruited, that level would never change over time. However, direct guards' levels could be raised, and they also received attribute bonuses, making them far stronger than private guards — roughly the gap between an ordinary monster and a boss.
With such direct guards protecting a guild's base, it would be absolutely foolproof at this stage. They could even participate in field boss fights. Although their levels would be suppressed, they would still be much stronger than ordinary players, giving them a far greater advantage in taking down field bosses compared to other guilds.
Thinking of this, Shuise Qiangwei's beautiful eyes kept sizing up Shi Feng.
"Guild Master, I really can't figure you out anymore. Not only did you secure such a wonderful guild base, but you're also a viscount of White River City. If the other guilds found out, they'd probably go crazy," Shuise Qiangwei said with a playful laugh, her bright eyes blinking.
"Indeed, they would absolutely chase me down like madmen," Shi Feng said with a smile.
A guild that possessed a base had roots. It was no longer water without a source.
Only when rooted could something sprout and grow into a towering tree.
Someone had once made a joke about it.
A guild without a base was nothing but a band of hillside bandits, while a guild with a base was a regional lord.
Because only with a guild base could the guild's many benefits be improved one by one. Guild tasks in particular — at this stage, without a base, the NPCs in cities could not come to the guild to post personal tasks, and players could only take on daily tasks from the Adventurer's Guild to earn guild honor points.
Compared to personal tasks posted by NPCs, guild tasks not only offered more guild honor points, but in every other respect they were leagues ahead of personal tasks. If the guild was powerful enough, there could even be personal tasks in the guild base that rewarded epic-grade items. And unlike the Adventurer's Guild's tasks, which only offered two or three per day and disappeared once completed…
As long as the guild was strong enough, the guild base could offer hundreds or even thousands of guild tasks every day.
With so many tasks, whether for leveling up or improving equipment, the speed was far greater than simply grinding mobs. Some specialists had even compiled statistics on earning speed.
The difference in income between ordinary members of a guild with a base and those of a guild without one was as much as two to three times.
Moreover, only with a guild base did a guild have a formal source of income, because whenever a guild member completed a guild task, the guild automatically collected a 15% processing fee as guild funds, stored in the guild bank.
That was why guild bases were so important.
And the location of the guild base was equally crucial, because it directly affected guild tasks. A newly established guild base was completely unknown throughout White River City — or rather, unknown among White River City's NPCs — so these NPCs would not easily come to the guild base to post tasks. But if the guild base were located in a place with heavy NPC foot traffic, like the Trade District, it would be much easier for NPCs to discover it.
As a result, the guild base would receive more tasks, and the more tasks the guild completed, the greater its reputation among NPCs would grow, which in turn would attract even more NPCs to come and post tasks.
This snowballing growth was unstoppable.