A city must possess a strong defensive magic array; otherwise, it is no more than a city without defenses, offering no sense of security to allies and presenting no deterrence to enemies, allowing them to come and go as they please. A defensive magic array also represents the depth of a city's foundation—the stronger the defensive magic array, the deeper the city's roots, often earning respect from other cities.
Prior to this, the City of Hope had only one half-destroyed black mist protection array, a vestige of the city's former abandonment. After Song Jian restored most of it, it was barely usable, but the black mist protection array could only defend against enemies on land. Those at the Legendary Realm could easily breach its defenses by flying.
